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TO 

MY  BROTHER  AND  NEPHEW, 
THE  HONORABLE  OVID  GARTEN  SPARKS, 

AND 

COLONEL  THOMAS  HARDEMAN, 

OF  MACON.  GEORGIA. 


hi*  Jlolnmt  is  jrdu:.trd 


BY  THEIR  AGED  AND  AFFECTIONATE  RELATIVE,  TRUSTING 
THEY  WILL  ESTEEM  IT,  WHEN  HE  SHALL  HAVE 
PASSED  T.O  ETERNITY,  AS  SOME  EVI- 
DENCE OF  THE  AFFECTION 
BORNE  THEM  BY 


THE  AUTHOR. 


11CG1SG 


PREFACE. 


IN  the  same  week,  and  within  three  days  of  the  same  date, 
I  received  from  three  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  of 
three  States,  the  request  that  I  would  record  my  remem- 
brances of  the  men  and  things  I  had  known  for  fifty  years. 
The  gentlemen  making  this  request  were  Joseph  Henry 
Lumpkin,  of  Georgia;  William  L.  Sharkey,  of  Mississippi, 
and  James  G.  Taliafcrro,  of  Louisiana. 

From  Judge  Sharkey  the  request  was  verbal;  from  the  other 
two  it  came  in  long  and,  to  me,  cherished  letters.  All  three 
have  been  my  intimate  friends  —  Lumpkin  from  boyhood;  the 
others  for  nearly  fifty  years.  Judge  Lumpkin  has  finished  his 
work  in  time,  and  gone  to  his  reward.  Judges  Sharkey  and 
Taliafcrro  yet  live,  both  now  over  seventy  years  of  age.  The 
former  has  retired  from  the  busy  cares  of  office,  honored, 
trusted,  and  beloved  ;  the  latter  still  occupies  a  seat  upon  the 
Bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Louisiana. 

These  men  have  all  sustained  unreproached  reputations,  and 
retained  through  their  long  lives  the  full  confidence  of  the 
people  of  their  respective  States.  I  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to 
resist  their  appeal :  I  had  resided  in  all  three  of  the  States ; 
had  known  long  and  intimately  their  people ;  had  been  exten- 
sively acquainted  with  very  many  of  the  most  prominent  men 
of  the  nation  —  and  in  the  following  pages  is  my  compliance. 

I  have  trusted  only  to  my  memory,  and  to  a  journal  kept  for 
many  years,  when  a  younger  main  than  I  am  to-day  —  hasten- 
ing to  the  completion  of  my  seventieth  year.  Doubtless,  I 
have  made  many  mistakes  of  minor  importance;  but  few,  I 
trust,  as  to  matters  of  fact  Of  one  thing  I  am  sure :  nothing 
has  been  wilfully  written  which  can  wound  the  feelings  of  any. 

Many  things  herein  contained  may  not  be  of  general 
interest;  but  none  which  will  not  find  interested  readers;  for 
while  some  of  the  individuals  mentioned  may  not  be  known  to 
common  fame,  the  incidents  in  connection  with  them  deserve 
to  be  remembered  by  thousands  who  knew  them. 

1*  T 


vi  PREFACE. 

These  Memories  are  put  down  without  system,  or  order,  as 
they  have  presented  themselves,  and  have  been  related  in  a 
manner  which  I  have  attempted  to  make  entertaining  and 
instructive,  without  being  prolix  or  tedious.  They  will  be 
chiefly  interesting  to  the  people  of  the  South  ;  though  much 
may,  and,  I  hope,  will  be  read  by  those  of  the  North.  Some 
of  my  happiest  days  have  been  passed  in  the  North  :  at  Cam- 
bridge some  of  my  sons  have  been  educated,  and  some  of  my 
dearest  friends  have  been  Northern  men.  Despite  the  strife 
which  has  gone  far  toward  making  us  in  heart  a  divided 
people,  I  have  a  grateful  memory  of  many  whose  homes  and 
graves  were  and  are  in  New  England. 

Would  that  this  strife  had  never  been !  But  it  has  come, 
and  I  cannot  forego  a  parent's  natural  feelings  when  mourning 
the  loss  of  sons  slain  in  the  conflict,  or  the  bitterness  arising 
therefrom  toward  those  who  slew  them.  Yet,  as  I  forgive,  I 
hope  to  be  forgiven. 

There  are  but  few  now  left  who  began  the  journey  of  life 
with  me.  Those  of  this  number  who  still  sojourn  in  our 
native  land  will  find  much  in  these  pages  familiar  to  their 
remembrance,  and  some  things,  the  reading  of  which  may 
revive  incidents  and  persons  long  forgotten.  In  the  West,  in 
Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  and  Texas,  there  are  many  — 
the  descendants  of  those  who  participated  in  events  transpir- 
ing fifty  years  ago  —  who  have  listened  at  the  parental  hearth 
to  their  recital.  To  these  I  send  this  volume  greeting ;  and 
if  they  find  something  herein  to  amuse  and  call  up  remem- 
brances of  the  past,  I  shall  feel  gratified. 

To  the  many  friends  I  have  in  the  Southwest,  and  especially 
in  Louisiana  and  Mississippi,  where  I  have  sojourned  well- 
nigh  fifty  years,  and  many  of  whom  have  so  often  urged  upon 
me  the  writing  of  these  Memories,  I  commit  the  book,  and  ask 
of  them,  and  of  all  into  whose  hands  it  may  fall,  a  lenient 
criticism,  a  kindly  recollection,  and  a  generous  thought  of 
our  past  intercourse.  It  is  an  inexorable  fate  that  separates 
us,  and  I  feel  it  is  forever.  This  sad  thought  is  alleviated, 
however,  by  the  consciousness  that  the  few  remaining  sands 
of  life  are  falling  at  the  home  of  my  birth  ;  and  that  when  the 
end  comes,  as  very  soon  it  must,  1  shall  be  placed  to  sleep 
amid  my  kindred  in  the  land  of  my  nativity. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
REVOLUTIONARY  TRADITIONS. 

Middle  Georgia  —  Colonel  David  Love  —  His  Widow  —  Governor  Dunmore 
—  Colonel  Tarleton  —  Bill  Cunningham  —  Colonel  Fannin  — My  Grand- 
mother's Bible  —  Solomon's  Maxim  Applied  —  Robertus  Love  —  The 
Indian  Warrior  —  Dragon  Canoe  —  A  Buxom  Lass  —  General  Gates  — 
Marion  —  Mason  L.  Wecms  —  Washington  —  "Billy  Crafford"  .  .13 

CHAPTER  II. 
PIONEER  LIFE. 

Settlement  of  Middle  Georgia  —  Prowling  Indians  —  Scouts  and  their  Dogs 
— Classes  of  Settlers  —  Prominence  of  Virginians  —  Causes  of  Distinction  — 
Clearing  — Log-Rolling  —  Frolics  —  Teachers  Cummings  and  Duffy — The 
Schoolmaster's  Nose  —  Flogging  —  Emigration  to  Alabama  ...  19 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  GEORGIA  COMPANY. 

Yazoo  Purchase — Governor  Matthews  —  James  Jackson  —  Burning  of  the 
Yazoo  Act  —  Development  of  Free  Government  —  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion —  Slavery :  Its  Introduction  and  Effects 27 

CHAPTER  IV. 
POLITICAL  DISPUTATIONS. 

Baldwin  —  A  Yankee's  Political  Stability  —  The  Yaroo  Question  —  Party 
Feuds  and  Fights  —  Deaf  and  Dumb  Ministers  —  Cay  —  Jackson  — 
Buchanan  —  Calhoun  —  Cotton  and  Free  Trade  —  The  Clay  and  Randolph 
Duel 38 

CHAPTER  V. 
GEORGIA'S  NOBLE  SONS. 

A  Minister  of  a  Day  —  Purity  of  Administration  —  Then  and  Now  —  Widow 
Timberlake  —  Van  Buren's  Letter  —  Armbrister  and  Arbuthnot  —  Old 
Hickory  Settles  a  Difficulty  —  A  Cause  of  the  Late  War  —  Honored  Dead  .  52 


viil  •       CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
POPULAR  CHARACTERISTICS. 

A  Frugal  People  — Laws  and  Religion  —  Father  Pierce  —  Thomas  W.  Cobb 
—  Requisites   of  a  Political   Candidate  — A  Farmer-Lawyer  — 
Humorists 6l 

CHAPTER  VII. 
WITS  AND  FIRE-EATERS. 

Judge  Dooly  —  Lawyers  and  Blacksmiths  —  John  Forsyth  —  How  Juries  were 
Drawn  —  Gum-Tree  vs.  Wooden-Leg  —  Preacher-Politicians  —  Colonel 
Gumming  —  George  McDuffie 7° 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
FIFTY  YEARS  AGO. 

Governor  Matthews  —  Indians  —  Topography  of  Middle  Georgia  — A  New 
Country  and  its  Settlers  —  Beaux  and  Belles— Early  Training  —  Jesuit 
Teachers— A  Mother's  Influence  — The  Jews  — Homely  Sports  — The 
Cotton  Gin  —  Camp-Meetings 92 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PEDAGOGUES  AND  DEMAGOGUES. 

Education  — Colleges  — School-Days  — William  and  Mary  —  A  Substitute  — 
Boarding  Around  —  Rough  Diamonds  —  Caste  —  George  M.  Troup  —  A 
Scotch  Indian  — Alexander  McGilvery  — The  Mclntosh  Family  —  Button 
Gwinnett  —  General  Taylor  —  Matthew  Talbot  —  Jesse  Mercer  —  An 
Exciting  Election 117 

CHAPTER  X. 

INDIAN  TREATIES  AND  DIFFICULTIES. 

The  Creeks  — John  Quincy  Adams  —  Hopothlayohola  —  Indian  Oratory  — 
Sulphur  Springs  —  Treaties  Made  and  Broken  —  An  Independent  Governor 

—  Colonels  John  S.  Mclntosh,  David   Emanuel   Twiggs,   and   Duncan 
Clinch  —  General  Gaines  —  Christianizing  the  Indians  —  Cotton  Mather  — 
Expedient  and  Principle  — The  Puritanical  Snake 1 30 

CHAPTER  XL 
POLITICAL  CHANGES. 

Aspirants  for  Congress  —  A  New  Organization  —  Two  Parties  —  A  Protective 
t  Tariff—  United  States  Bank  —  The  American  System  —  Internal  Improve- 
ments —  A  Galaxy  of  Stars  —  A  Spartan  Mother's  Advice  —  Negro-Dealer 

—  Quarter-Races  —  Cock-Pitting  —  Military   Blunders   on   Both  Sides  — 


CONTENTS.  IX 

Abner  Green's  Daughter — Andrew  Jackson — Gwinn  —  Poindexter —  Ad 
Interim — General*  by  Nature  as  Civil  Rulers 142 

CHAPTER  XII. 

GOSSIP. 

Unrequited  Lore  — Popping  the  Question  —  Practical  Joking  — Satan  Let 
LOOM—  Rhea,  but  not  Rhca  —  Teachings  of  Nature  —  U.S.  Smith  .  .  1 57 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
INFLUENCE   OF  CHILDHOOD. 

First  Impressions  — Fortune— Mirabean  B.  Lamar  —  Dr.  Alonzo  Church  — 

—  Julius  Caesar  —  L.  Q.  C.  Lunar  —  Texan   Independence  —  Colquitt 

—  Lumpkin—  What  a  Great  Man  Can  Do  in  One  Day  —  Charles  J.  Jenkins  166 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
A  REVOLUTIONARY  VETERAN. 

Tapping  Reeve — James  Gould — Colonel  Benjamin  Talmadge  —  The  Execu- 
tion of  Major  And  re*  —  Character  of  Washington  —  A  Breach  of  Discipline 

—  Burr  and  Hamilton  —  Margaret  Moncrief — Cowlcs  Meade.         .         .     184 

CHAPTER  XV. 
CHANGE  OF  GOVERNMENT. 

Governor  Wolcott  —  Toleration  —  Mr.  Monroe  —  Private  Life  of  Washington 

—  Thomas  Jefferson  —  The  Object  and  Science  of  Government  —  Court 
Etiquette  —  Nature  the  Teacher  and  Guide  in  all  Things  ....  202 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
PARTY  PRINCIPLES. 

Origin  of  Parties— Federal  and  Republican  Peculiarities  —  Jefferson's  Princi- 
ples and  Religion  —  Democracy  —  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  Parties  — 
War  with  France  —  Sedition  Law  —  Lyman  Beecher  —  The  Almighty  Dol- 
lar—  "  Hail  Columbia  "  and  "  Yankee  Doodle  " 214 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
CONGRESS  IN  ITS  BRIGHTEST  DAYS. 

Missouri  Compromise— John  Randolph's  Juba  — Mr.  Macon  —  Holmes  and 
Crawford  —  Mr.  Clay's  Influence  — James  Barbour  —  Philip  P.  Barbour  — 
Mr.  Pinckney  —  Mr.  Beecher,  of  Ohio  —  "Cuckoo,  Cuckoo !"  — National 
Roads  —  William  Lowndes  —  William  Roscoe  —  Duke  of  Argyle  —  Louis 
McLean  —  Whig  and  Democratic  Parties 225 


x  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
FRENCH  AND  SPANISH  TERRITORY. 

Settlers  on  the  Tombigbee  and  Mississippi  Rivers  —  La  Salle  —  Natchez  — 
Family  Apportionment  —  The  Hill  Country  —  Hospitality  —  Benefit  of 
African  Slavery  — Capacity  of  the  Negro  — His  Future  .  .  .  .243 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  NATCHEZ  TRADITIONS. 

Natchez  —  Mizezibbee ;  or,  The  Parent  of  Many  Waters  —  Indian  Mounds  — 
The  Child  of  the  Sun  —  Treatment  of  the  Females  —  Poetic  Marriages 

—  Unchaste  Maids  and  Pure  Wives  —  Walking  Archives  —  The  Profane 
Fire  —  Alahoplechia  —  Oyelape  —  The  Chief  with  a  Beard      .        .         .253 

CHAPTER  XX. 

EXPLORATION  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 
Chicago  —  Crying  Indians  —  Chickasaws  —  De  Soto  —  Feast   of  the  Great 
Sun  — Cane-Knives  — Love-stricken  Indian  Maiden—  Rape  of  the  Natchei 

—  Man's  Will— Subjugation  of  the  Waters  — The  Black  Man's  Mission  — 

Its  Decade 268 

CHAPTER  XXL 
TWO  STRANGE  BEINGS. 

Romance  of  Western  Life  —  Met  by  Chance  —  Parting  on  the  Levee  — Meet- 
ing at  the  Sick-Bed  —  Convalescent  —  Love-Making  —  "  Home,  Sweet 
Home "  — Theological  Discussion  —  Uncle  Tony— Wild,  yet  Gentle  — 
An  Odd  Family  —  The  Adventurer  Speculates  .  .....  277 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE  ROMANCE  CONTINUED. 

Father  Confessor—  Open  Confession  —  The  Unread  Will  —  Old  Tony's  Nar- 
rative —  Squirrel  Shooting  —  The  Farewell  Unsaid —  Brothers-in-Law  — 
Farewell  Indeed '  .  .  .  .298 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
WHEN  SUCCESSFUL,  RIGHT;  WHEN  NOT,  WRONG. 

Territorial  Mississippi  —  Wilkinson  —  Adams  —Jefferson  —Warren  —  Clai- 
borne  —  Union  of  the  Factions  —  Colonel  Wood  —  Chew  —  David  Hunt 
—  Joseph  Dunbar  —  Society  of  Western  Mississippi  —  Pop  Visits  of  a  Week 
to  Tea  — The  Horse  "  Tom  "  and  his  Rider  — Our  Grandfathers'  Days  — 
An  Emigrant's  Outfit  —  My  Share  —  George  Poindexter  —  A  Sudden 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Opening  of  a  Court  of  Justice — The  Caldwell  and  Gwinn  Duel  —  Jackson's 
Opposition  to  the  Governor  of  Mississippi 321 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
THE  SILVER-TONGUED  ORATOR. 

John  A.  Quitman  —  Robert  J.  Walker — Robert  H.  Adams  —  From  a  Cooper- 
Shop  to  the  United  States  Senate  —  Bank  Monopoly  —  Natchez  Fencible* 

—  Scott  in  Mexico  —  Thomas  Hall  —  Sargent  S.  Prentiss  —  Vicksburg  — 
Single-speech  Hamilton  —  God-inspired  Oratory  —  Drunk  by  Absorption 

—  Killing  a  Tailor  — Defence  of  Wilkinson 343 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
A  FINANCIAL  CRASH. 

A  Wonderful  Memory  —  A  Nation  Without  Debt  —  Crushing  the  National 
Bank  —  Rise  of  State  Banks  —  Inflated  Currency  —  Grand  Flare-up  — 
Take  Care  of  Yourself — Commencing  Anew  —  Failing  to  Reach  an  Obtuse 
Heart —  King  Alcohol  does  his  Work  —  Prentiss  and  Foote  —  Love  Me, 
Love  my  Dog  —  A  Noble  Spirit  Overcome  —  Charity  Covereth  a  Multitude 
ofSins 361 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
ACADIAN  FRENCH  SETTLERS. 

Sugar  vs.  Cotton  —  Acadia — A  Specimen  of  Mississippi  French  Life  —  Bayou 
La  Fourche — The  Great  Flood  —  Theological  Arbitration  —  A  Rustic 
Ball  —  Old-Fashioned  Weddings  —  Creoles  and  Quadroons  — The  Planter 

—  Negro  Servants  —  Gauls  and  Anglo-Normans  —  Antagonism  of  Races  .  372 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
ABOLITION  OF  LICENSED  GAMBLING. 

Baton  Rouge  —  Florida  Parishes  —  Dissatisfaction  —  Where  there's  a  Will, 
there '»  a  Way —  Storming  a  Fort  on  Horseback  —  Annexation  at  the  Point 
of  the  Poker  —  Raphignac  and  Larry  Moore  —  Fighting  the  "Tiger"  — 
Carrying  a  Practical  Joke  too  Far  — A  Silver  Tea-Set  .  .  .  .39° 

CHAPTER  XXVIIL 
THREE  GREAT  JUDGES. 

A  Speech  in  Two  Languages  —  Long  Sessions  —  Matthews,  Martin,  and  Por- 
ter—A Singular  Will  — A  Scion  of  '98  —  Five  Hundred  Dollars  for  a 
Little  Fun  with  the  Dogs  — Cancelling  a  Note 4°3 


Xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
AMERICANIZING  LOUISIANA. 

Powers  of  Louisiana  Courts  —  Governor  William  C.  C.  Claiborne  —  Cruel 
O'Reilly  — Lefrenier  and  Noyan  Executed  — A  Dutch  Justice  — Edward 
Livingston  — A  Caricature  of  General  Jackson  —  Stephen  Mazereau  —  A 
Speech  in  Three  Languages— John  R.  Grymes —Settling  a  Ca.  Sa.  —  Bat- 
ture  Property— A  Hundred  Thousand  Dollar  Fee 423 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
DIVISION  OF  NEW  ORLEANS  INTO  MUNICIPALITIES. 

American  Hotel — Introduction  of  Steamboats  —  Faubourg  St.  Mary — Canal 
'    Street  — St.  Charles   Hotel  — Samuel  J.  Peters  —  James  H.  Caldwell  — 
Fathers  of  the  Municipality  —  Bernard  Marigny  —  An  Ass  — A.  B.  Roman  440 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
BLOWING  UP  THE  LIONESS. 

Doctor  Clapp— Views  and  Opinions — Universal  Destiny  — Alexander  Bar- 
row  —  E.  D.  White  —  Cross-Breed,  Irish  Renegade,  and  Acadian  —  A 
Heroic  Woman — The  Ginseng  Trade  —  I-I-I '11  D-d-die  F-f-first  .  .  451 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
GRADUAL  EXTINCTION  OF  THE  RED  MAN. 

Line  Creek  Fifty  Years  Ago  —  Hopothlayohola  —  Mclntosh  —  Undying 
Hatred  — A  Big  Pow-wow  —  Massacre  of  the  Mclntoshes  —  Nehemathla 

—  Onchees — The  Last  of  the  Race  —  A  Brave  Warrior  —  A  White  Man's 
Friendship— The  Death-Song  — Tuskega;  or,  Jim's  Boy         .        .        .465 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
FUN,  FACT,  AND  FANCY. 

Eugenius  Nesbitt— Washington  Poe— Yelverton  P.  King  — Preparing  to 
Receive  the  Court  — Walton  Tavern,  in  Lexington  —  Billy  Springer,  of 
Sparta  — Freeman  Walker  — An  Augusta  Lawyer  —  A  Georgia  Major— 

—  Major  Walker's  Bed  —  Uncle  Ned  —  Discharging  a  Hog  on  His  Own 
Recognizance  — Morning  Admonition  and  Evening  Counsel  —  A  Mother's 
Request  — Invocation  — Conclusion 


THE  MEMORIES 

OF 

FIFTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

REVOLUTIONARY  TRADITIONS. 

MIDDLE  GEORGIA  —  COLONEL  DAVID  LOVE — His  WIDOW— GOVERNOR  DUN- 
MORE —  COLONEL  TARLETON — BILL  CUNNINGHAM — COLONEL  FANNON  — 
MY  GRANDMOTHER'S  BIBLE  —  SOLOMON'S  MAXIM  APPLIED  —  ROBERTUS 
LOVE — THE  INDIAN  WARRIOR — DRAGON  CANOE — A  BUXOM  LASS  — 
GENERAL  GATES  —  MARION — MASON  L.  WEEMS — WASHINGTON — "BILLY 
CRAFFORD." 

MY  earliest  memories  are  connected  with  the  first  settlement  of 
Middle  Georgia,  where  I  was  born.  My  grandparents  on 
the  mother's  side,  were  natives  of  North  Carolina ;  and,  I  believe, 
of  Anson  county.  My  grandfather,  Colonel  David  Love,  was  an 
active  partisan  officer  in  the  service  of  the  Continental  Congress. 
He  died  before  I  was  born ;  but  my  grandmother  lived  until  I  was 
seventeen  years  of  age.  As  her  oldest  grandchild,  I  spent  much  of 
my  time,  in  early  boyhood,  at  her  home  near  the  head  of  Shoulder- 
bone  Creek  in  the  county  of  Green.  She  was  a  little,  fussy,  Irish 
woman,  a  Presbyterian  in  religion,  and  a  very  strict  observer  of  all 
the  duties  impo*d  upon  her  sect,  especially  in  keeping  holy  the 
Sabbath  day.  All  her  children  were  grown  up,  married,  and,  in  the 
language  of  the  time,  "gone  away. "  She  was  in  truth  a  lone  woman, 
busying  herself  in  household  and  farming  affairs.  With  a  few  negroes, 

2  13 


!^  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

and  a  miserably  poor  piece  of  land,  she  struggled  in  her  widowhood 
with  fortune,  and  contrived,  with  North  Carolina  frugality  and  in- 
dustry, not  only  to  make  a  decent  living,  but  to  lay  up  something 
for  a  rainy  day,  as  she  phrases  it.  In  her  visits  to  her  fields  and 
garden,  I  ran  by  her  side  and  listened  to  stories  of  Tory  atrociti 
and  Whig  suffering  in  North  Carolina  during  the  Revolution, 
infamous  Governor  Dunmore,  the  cruel  Colonel  Tarleton,  and  1 
murderous  and  thieving  Bill  Cunningham  and  Colonel 
both  Tories,  and  the  latter  natives  to  the  soil,  were  presented  graph- 
ically to  me  in  their  most  hateful  forms.  In  truth,  before  I  had 
attained  my  seventh  year,  I  was  familiar  with  the  history  of  the  par- 
tisan warfare  waged  between  Whig  antf  Tory  in  North  and  South 
Carolina,  from  1776  to  1782,  from  this  good  but  garrulous  old  lady. 
I  am  not  so  certain  she  was  good :  she  had  a  temper  of  her  own, 
and  a  will  and  a  way  of  her  own ;  and  was  good-natured  only  when 
permitted  this  way  without  opposition,  or  cross.  Perhaps  I  retain 
a  more  vivid  memory  of  these  peculiar  traits  than  of  any  others 
characterizing  her.  She  permitted  no  contradiction,  and  exacted 
implicit  obedience,  and  this  was  well  understood  by  everything  about 
her.  She  was  strict  and  exacting,  and  had  learned  from  Solomon 
that  to  "spare  the  rod  was  to  spoil  the  child."  She  read  the  Bible 
only ;  and  it  was  the  only  book  in  the  house.  This  Bible  is  still  in 
existence ;  it  was  brought  by  my  grandfather  from  Europe,  and  is 
now  covered  with  the  skin  of  a  fish  which  he  harpooned  on  his  return 
voyage,  appropriating  the  skin  to  this  purpose  in  1 750.  She  had  use 
for  no  other  book,  not  even  for  an  almanac,  for  at  any  moment  she 
could  tell  the  day  of  the  month,  the  phase  of  the  moon  and  the  day 
General  Washington  captured  Cornwallis ;  as  also  the  day  on  which 
Washington  died.  Her  reverence  for  the  memory  of  my  grandfather 
was  idolatry.  His  cane  hung  with  his  hat  just  where  he  had  habitu- 
ally placed  them  during  his  latter  days.  His  saddle  and  great  sea-chest 
were  preserved  with  equal  care,  and  remained  undisturbed  from  1798 
to  1817,  precisely  as  he  left  them.  I  ventured  to  remove  the  cane 
upon  one  occasion ;  and,  with  a  little  negro  or  two,  was  merrily  riding 
it  around  in  the  great  lumber-room  of  the  house,  where  scarcely  any 
one  ever  went,  when  she  came  in  and  caught  me.  The  pear-tree 
sprouts  were  immediately  put  into  requisition,  and  the  whole  party 
most  mercilessly  thrashed.  From  that  day  forward  the  old  buck- 


FIFTYYEARS.  15 

horn-headed  cane  was  an  awful  reminder  of  my  sufferings.  She  was 
careful  not  to  injure  the  clothing  of  her  victims,  and  made  her  appeals 
to  the  unshielded  cuticle,  and  with  a  heavy  hand  for  a  small  woman. 

It  was  an  ill-fashioned  but  powerfully-built  house,  and  remains  a 
monument  to  this  day  of  sound  timber  and  faithful  work,  braving 
time  and  the  storm  for  eighty-two  years.  It  was  the  first  framed 
house  built  in  the  county,  and  I  am  sure,  upon  the  poorest  spot  of 
land  within  fifty  miles  of  where  it  stands.  Here  was  born  my  uncle, 
Robertus  Love,  who  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  the  State  west 
of  the  Ogeechee  River. 

Colonel  Love,  my  grandfather,  was  eccentric  in  many  of  his 
opinions,  and  was  a  Puritan  in  religious  faith.  Oliver  Cromwell  was 
his  model  of  a  statesman,  and  Praise-God  Barebones  his  type  of  a 
Christian.  While  he  was  a  boy  his  father  married  a  second  time, 
and,  as  is  very  frequently  the  case,  there  was  no  harmony  between 
the  step-mother  and  step-son.  Their  jarrings  soon  ripened  into 
open  war.  To  avoid  expulsion  from  the  paternal  roof  he  "bundled 
and  went."  Nor  did  he  rest  until,  in  the  heart  of  the  Cherokee 
nation  of  Indians,  he  found  a  home  with  Dragon  Canoe,  then  the 
principal  warrior  of  the  nation,  who  resided  in  a  valley  amid  the 
mountains,  and  which  is  now  Habersham  County.  With  this  chief, 
who  at  the  time  was  young,  he  remained  some  four  years,  pursuing  the 
chase  for  pleasure  and  profit.  Thus  accumulating  a  large  quantity 
of  peltries,  he  carried  them  on  pack-horses  to  Charleston,  and 
thence  went  with  them  to  Europe.  After  disposing  of  his  furs,  which 
proved  profitable,  he  wandered  on  foot  about  Europe  for  some 
eighteen  months,  and  then,  returning  to  London,  he  embarked  for 
America. 

During  all  this  time  he  had  not  heard  from  his  family.  Arriving 
at  Charleston  he  made  his  way  back  to  the  neighborhood  of  his 
birth.  He  was  ferried  across  the  Pedee  river  by  a  buxom  lass,  who 
captured  his  heart.  Finding  his  father  dead,  he  gathered  up  the 
little  patrimony  left  him  in  his  father's  will,  should  he  ever  return  to 
claim  it :  he  then  returned  to  the  neighborhood  of  his  sweetheart  of 
the  ferry;  and,  being  a  fine-looking  man  of  six  feet  three  inches, 
with  great  blue  eyes,  round  and  liquid  ;  a»d,  Othello-like,  telling 
well  the  story  of  his  adventures,  he  very  soon  beguiled  the  maiden's 
heart,  and  they  were  made  one.  About  this  time  came  off  the 


X5  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

battles  of  Concord  and  Lexington,  inaugurating  the  Revolution.  It 
was  not,  however,  until  after  the  declaration  of  independence,  that 
he  threw  aside  the  plough  and  shouldered  the  musket  for  American 
independence. 

That  portion  of  North  Carolina  in  which  he  resided  had 
mainly  peopled  by  emigrants  from  Scotland.  The  war  progressing 
into  the  South,  found  nearly  all  of  these  faithful  in  their  allegiance  to 
Britain.  The  population  of  English  descent,  in  the  main,  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  colonies.  With  his  neighbors  Love  was  a  favorite ; 
he  was  very  fleet  in  a  foot-race,  had  remarkable  strength ;  but,  above 
all,  was  sagacious  and  strong  of  will.  Such  qualities,  always  appre- 
ciated by  a  rude  people,  at  that  particular  juncture  brought  their 
possessor  prominently  forward,  and  he  was  chosen  captain  of  a  com- 
pany composed  almost  to  a  man  of  his  personal  friends  and  acquain- 
tances. Uniting  himself  with  the  regiment  of  Colonel  Lynch,  just 
then  organized,  and  which  was  ordered  to  join  the  North  Carolina 
line,  they  marched  at  once  to  join  General  Gates,  then  commanding 
in  the  South.  Under  the  command  of  this  unfortunate  general  he 
remained  until  after  the  battle  of  Camden.  Here  Gates  experienced 
a  most  disastrous  defeat,  and  the  whole  country  was  surrendered  to 
the  British  forces. 

South  Carolina  and  North  Carolina,  especially  their  southern  por- 
tions, were  entirely  overrun  by  the  enemy,  who  armed  the  Tories  and 
turned  them  loose  to  ravage  the  country.  Gates's  army  was  disor- 
ganized, and  most  of  those  who  composed  it  from  the  Carolinas 
returned  to  their  homes.  Between  these  and  the  Scotch  Tories,  as 
the  Loyalists  were  termed,  there  was  a  continual  partisan  strife,  each 
party  resorting  to  the  most  cruel  murders,  burning  and  destroying 
the  homes  and  the  property  of  each  other*  Partisan  bands  were 
organized  by  each,  and  under  desperate  leaders  did  desperate  deeds. 
It  was  then  and  there  that  Marion  and  Fanning  became  conspicuous, 
and  were  respectively  the  terror  of  Whigs  and  Tories. 

There  were  numerous  others  of  like  character,  though  less  ef- 
ficient and  less  conspicuous.  The  exploits  of  such  bands  are  deemed 
beneath  the  dignity  of  history,  and  now  only  live  in  the  memories 
of  those  who  received  them  traditionally  from  the  actors,  their  asso- 
ciates or  descendants.  Those  acts  constitute  mainly  the  tragic 
horrors  of  war,  and  evidence  the  merciless  inhumanity  of  enraged 


FIFTYYEARS.  i; 

men,  unrestrained  by  civil  or  moral  law.  Injuries  he  deems  wanton 
prompt  the  passions  of  his  nature  to  revenge,  and  he  hastens  to  re- 
taliate upon  his  enemy,  with  increased  horrors,  their  savage 
brutalities. 

As  the  leader  of  a  small  band  of  neighbors  who  had  united  for 
protection  and  revenge,  Colonel  Love  became  conspicuous  for  his 
courage  and  cruelty.  It  was  impossible  for  these,  his  associates,  as 
for  their  Tory  neighbors  and  enemies,  to  remain  at  their  homes,  or 
even  to  visit  them,  except  at  night,  and  then  most  stealthily.  The 
country  abounds  with  swamps  more  or  less  dense  and  irreclaimable, 
which  must  always  remain  a  hiding-place  for  the  unfortunate  or 
desperate.  In  these  the  little  bands  by  day  were  concealed,  issuing 
forth  at  night  to  seek  for  food  or  spoils.  Their  families  were  often 
made  the  victims  of  revenge ;  and  instances  were  numerous  where 
feeble  women  and  little  children  were  slain  in  cold  blood  by  neigh- 
bors long  and  familiarly  known  to  each  other,  in  retaliation  of  like 
atrocities  perpetrated  by  their  husbands,  sons,  or  brothers. 

It  was  a  favorite  pastime  with  my  grandmother,  when  the  morning's 
work  was  done,  to  uncover  her  flax-wheel,  seat  herself,  and  call  me 
to  sit  by  her,  and,  after  my  childish  manner,  read  to  her  from  the 
"Life  of  General  Francis  Marion,"  by  Mason  L.  Weems,  the  graphic 
account  of  the  general's  exploits,  by  the  venerable  parson.  There 
was  not  a  story  in  the  book  that  she  did  not  know,  almost  as  a  party 
concerned,  and  she  would  ply  her  work  of  flax-spinning  while  she 
gave  me  close  and  intense  attention.  At  times,  when  the  historian 
was  at  fault  in  his  facts — and,  to  say  the  truth,  that  was  more  fre- 
quently the  case  than  comports  with  veracious  history  —  she  would 
cease  the  impelling  motion  of  her  foot  upon  the  pedal  of  her  little 
wheel,  drop  her  thread,  and,  gently  arresting  the  fly  of  her  spool, 
she  would  lift  her  iron-framed  spectacles,  and  with  great  gravity  say: 
"Read  that  again.  Ah!  it  is  not  as  it  happened,  your  grandfather 
was  in  that  fight,  and  I  will  tell  you  how  it  was."  This  was  so  fre- 
quently the  case,  that  now,  when  more  than  sixty  years  have  flown, 
I  am  at  a  loss  to  know,  if  the  knowledge  of  most  of  these  facts  which 
tenaciously  clings  to  my  memory,  was  originally  derived  from 
Weems's  book,  or  my  grandmother's  narrations.  In  these  forays 
and  conflicts,  whenever  my  grandfather  was  a  party,  her  information 
was  derived  from  him  and  his  associates,  and  of  course  was  deemed 
2*  B 


jS  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

by  her  authentic ;  and  whenever  these  differed  from  the  historian  s 
narrative,  his,  of  consequence,  was  untrue.  Finally,  Weems,  upon 
one  of  his  book-selling  excursions,  which  simply  meant  disposing  of 
his  own  writings,  came  through  her  neighborhood,  and  with  the 
gravity  of  age,  left  verbally  his  own  biography  with  Mrs.  Mcjoy,  a 
neighbor ;  this  made  him,  as  he  phrased  it,  General  Washington's 
preacher.  He  was  never  after  assailed  as  a  lying  author :  but  when- 
ever his  narrative  was  opposed  to  her  memory,  she  had  the  excuse 
for  him,  that  his  informant  had  deceived  him. 

To  have  seen  General  Washington,  even  without  having  held  the 
holy  office  of  his  preacher,  sanctified  in  her  estimation  any  and  every 
one.  She  had  seen  him,  and  it  was  the  especial  glory  of  her  life. 
Yes,  she  had  seen  him,  and  remembered  minutely  his  eyes,  his  hair, 
his  mouth  and  his  hands — and  even  his  black  horse  with  a  star  in 
his  face,  and  his  one  white  foot  and  long,  sweeping  tail.  So  often 
did  I  listen  to  the  story,  that  in  after  boyhood  I  came  to  believe  I 
had  seen  him  also,  though  his  death  occurred  twenty  days  before  I 
was  born.  My  dear,  good  mother  has  often  told  me  that  but  for 
an  attack  of  ague,  which  kept  the  venerable  lady  from  our  home  for 
a  month  or  more,  I  should  have  been  honored  with  bearing  the  old 
hero's  name  through  life.  So  intent  was  she  in  this  particular,  that 
she  never  liked  my  being  named  after  Billy  Crafford  (for  so  she 
pronounced  his  name)  for  whom  the  partiality  of  my  father  caused 
him  to  name  me.  Few  remain  to  remember  the  horrors  of  this 
partisan  warfare.  The  very  traditions  are  being  obliterated  by 
those  of  the  recent  civil  war,  so  rife  with  scenes  and  deeds  sufficiently 
horrible  for  the  appetite  of  the  curious  in  crime  and  cruelty. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  19 

CHAPTER  II. 

PIONEER  LIFE. 

SETTLEMENT  OF  MIDDLE  GEORGIA  —  PROWLING  INDIANS  —  Scours  AND  THEIR 
Docs — CLASSES  OF  SETTLERS  — PROMINENCE  OF  VIRGINIANS— CAUSES  OF 
DISTINCTION  — CLEARING  — LOG-ROLLING — FROLICS — TEACHERS  CUMMINGS 
AND  DUFFY— THE  SCHOOLMASTER'S  NOSE — FLOGGING— EMIGRATION  TO 
ALABAMA. 

THE  early  settlement  of  Middle  Georgia  was  principally  by 
emigrants  from  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  These  were  a 
rough,  poor,  but  honest  people,  with  little  or  no  fortunes,  and  who 
were  quite  as  limited  in  education  as  in  fortune.  Their  necessities 
made  them  industrious  and  frugal.  Lands  were  procured  at  the  ex- 
pense of  surveying;  the  soil  was  virgin  and  productive;  rude 
cabins,  built  of  poles,  constituted  not  only  their  dwellings  but  every 
necessary  outbuilding.  Those  who  first  ventured  beyond  the  Ogee- 
chee  generally  selected  some  spot  where  a  good  spring  of  water  was 
found,  not  overlooked  by  an  elevation  so  close  as  to  afford  an  oppor- 
tunity to  the  Indians,  then  very  troublesome,  to  fire  into  the  little 
stockade  forts  erected  around  these  springs  for  their  security  against 
the  secret  attacks  of  the  prowling  and  merciless  Creeks  and 
Cherokees. 

Usually  several  families  united  in  building  and  living  in  these 
forts.  As  soon  as  this  protection  was  completed,  the  work  of  clear- 
ing away  the  surrounding  forest  was  commenced,  that  the  land 
should  afford  a  field  for  cultivation.  While  thus  employed,  sentinels 
were  stationed  at  such  points  in  the  neighborhood  as  afforded  the 
best  opportunity  for  descrying  the  approach  of  Indians,  and  the 
watch  was  most  careful.  When  those  employed  in  hunting  (for 
every  community  had  its  hunters)  discovered,  or  thought  they  had  dis- 
covered signs  of  the  presence  of  the  savages,  scouts  were  immediately 
sent  out  to  discover  if  they  were  lurking  anywhere  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. This  was  the  most  arduous  and  perilous  duty  of  the  pioneers, 
and  not  unfrequently  the  scout,  or  spy  as  he  was  usually  termed,  went 
to  return  no  more.  When  seed-time  came,  corn,  a  small  patch  of 


20 


THE     MEMORIES     OF 


cotton  and  another  of  flax  were  planted,  and  cultivation  continued 
under  the  same  surveillance. 

The  dog,  always  the  companion  of  man,  was  carefully  trained  to 
search  for  the  prowling  Indians ;  and  by  daylight  every  morning  the 
clearing,  as  the  open  lands  were  universally  termed,  was  passed 
around  by  a  cautious  scout,  always  preceded  by  his  dogs,  who 
seemed  as  conscious  of  their  duty  and  as  faithful  in  its  discharge  as 
was  their  master.  If  he  reported  no  Indians,  the  work  of  cultiva- 
tion commenced,  and  the  sentinels  repaired  to  their  posts.  These 
were  usually  changed  whenever  the  slightest  sign  of  Indians  any- 
where in  the  country  could  be  found,  lest  their  posts  might  have 
been  found  and  marked,  and  ambushed  at  night.  Yet,  despite  this 
prudent  caution,  many  a  sentinel  perished  at  his  post.  The  unerr- 
ing arrow  gave  no  alarm,  and  the  sentinel  slain,  opened  an  approach 
for  the  savages;  and  not  unfrequently  parties  at  labor  were  thus 
surprised  and  shot  in  full  view  of  those  in  the  fort. 

Occasionally  an  emigrant  brought  with  him  a  slave  or  two :  these 
were  rich,  and  invariably  were  the  leading  men  in  the  communities. 
Those  from  Virginia  were  more  frequently  possessed  of  this  species 
of  property  than  those  from  the  Carolinas,  and,  coming  from  an 
older  country,  had  generally  enjoyed  better  opportunities  and  were 
more  cultivated.  A  common  necessity  harmonized  all,  and  the  state 
of  society  was  a  pure  democracy.  These  communities  were  usually 
.  from  twenty  to  fifty  miles  apart,  and  about  them  a  nucleus  was 
formed,  inviting  those  who  sought  the  new  country  for  a  home  to 
locate  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  Security  and  the  enjoyment  of 
social  intercourse  were  more  frequently  the  incentives  for  these 
selections  than  the  fertility  of  the  soil  or  other  advantages.  One 
peculiarity  was  observable,  which  their  descendants,  in  their  emigra- 
tion to  the  West,  continue  to  this  day  to  practise  :  they  usually  came 
due  west  from  their  former  homes,  and  were  sure  to  select,  as  nearly 
as  possible,  a  new  one  in  the  same  parallel,  and  with  surroundings  as 
nearly  like  those  they  had  left  as  possible.  With  the  North  Caroli- 
nian, good  spring-water,  and  pine-knots  for  his  fire,  were  the  sine 
qua  non.  These  secured,  he  went  to  work  with  the  assiduity  and 
perseverance  of  a  beaver  to  build  his  house  and  open  his  fields. 
The  Virginians,  less  particular,  but  more  ambitious,  sought  the  best 
lands  for  grain  and  tobacco ;  consequently  they  were  more  diffused, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  21 

and  their  improvements,   from  their  superior  wealth,  were   more 
imposing. 

Wealth  in  all  communities  is  comparative,  and  he  who  has  only  a 
few  thousand  dollars,  where  no  one  else  has  so  much,  is  the  rich 
man,  and  ever  assumes  the  rich  man's  prerogatives  and  bearing. 
All  experience  has  proved  that  as  a  man  estimates  himself,  so  in 
time  will  the  community  esteem  him ;  and  he  who  assumes  to  lead  or 
dictate  will  soon  be  permitted  to  do  so,  and  will  become  the  first  in 
prominence  and  influence  in  his  neighborhood,  county,  or  State. 
Greatness  commences  humbly  and  progresses  by  assumption.  The 
humble  ruler  of  a  neighborhood,  like  a  pebble  thrown  into  a  pond, 
will  continue  to  increase  the  circle  of  his  influence  until  it  reaches  the 
limits  of  his  county.  The  fathers  speak  of  him,  the  children  hear 
of  him,  his  name  is  a  household  word ;  if  he  but  assumes  enough, 
in  time  he  becomes  the  great  man  of  the  county ;  and  if  with  impu- 
dence he  unites  a  modicum  of  talent,  well  larded  with  a  cunning 
deceit,  it  will  not  be  long  before  he  is  Governor  or  member  of 
Congress.  It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  in  nearly  every  one  of 
these  communities  the  great  man  was  a  Virginian.  It  has  been 
assumed  by  the  Virginians  that  they  have  descended  from  a  superior 
race,  |nd  this  may  be  true  as  regards  many  families  whose  ancestors 
were  of  Norman  descent ;  but  it  is  not  true  of  the  mass  of  her  popu- 
lation ;  and  for  one  descendant  from  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  the 
mother  country,  there  are  thousands  of  pure  Anglo-Saxon  blood. 
It  was  certainly  true,  from  the  character  and  abilities  of  her  public* 
men,  in  her  colonial  condition  and  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  republic, 
she  had  a  right  to  assume  a  superiority ;  but  this,  I  fancy,  was  more 
the  result  of  her  peculiar  institutions  than  of  any  superiority  of  race  or 
greater  purity  of  blood.  I  am  far,  however,  from  underrating  the 
influence  of  blood.  That  there  are  species  of  the  same  race  supe- 
rior in  mental  as  well  as  in  physical  formation  is  certainly  true.  The 
peculiar  organization  of  the  brain,  its  fineness  of  texture  in  some, 
distinguish  them  as  mentally  superior  to  others,  as  the  greater  devel- 
opment of  bone  and  muscle  marks  the  superiority  of  physical 
power.  Very  frequently  this  difference  is  seen  in  brothers,  and  some- 
times in  families  of  the  same  parents — the  males  in  some  usurping 
all  the  mental  acumen,  and  in  others  the  females.  Why  this  is  so, 
I  cannot  stop  to  speculate. 


22  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

Virginia,  in  her  many  divisions  of  territory,  was  granted  to  the 
younger  sons  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  England.  They  car 
with  the  peculiar  habits  of  their  class,  and  located  upon  these  grants, 
bringing  with  them  as  colonists  their  dependants  in  England,  and 
retaining  here  all  the  peculiarities  of  caste.  The  former  were  the 
governing  class  at  home,  and  asserted  the  privilege  here  ;  the  latter 
were  content  that  it  should  be  so.  In  the  formation  of  the  first  con- 
stitution for  Virginia,  the  great  feature  of  a  landed  aristocracy  was 
fully  recognized  in  the  organic  law.  The  suffragist  was  the  landed 
proprietor,  and  in  every  county  where  his  possessions  were  this  right 
attached.  They  recognized  landed  property  as  the  basis  of  govern- 
ment, and  demanded  the  right  for  it  of  choosing  the  lawmakers  and 
the  executors  of  the  law.  All  power,  and  very  nearly  all  of  the 
wealth  of  the  State,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  landlords,  and  these 
selected  from  their  own  class  or  caste  the  men  who  were  to  conduct 
the  government.  To  this  class,  too,  were  confined  most  of  the 
education  and  learning  in  the  new  State ;  and  in  choosing  for  the 
Legislature  or  for  Congress,  State  pride  and  the  love  of  power 
prompted  the  selection  of  their  brightest  and  best  men. 

Oratory  was  esteemed  the  first  attribute  of  superior  minds,  and 
was  assiduously  cultivated.  There  were  few  newspapers,  and  the 
press  had  not  attained  the  controlling  power  over  the  public  mind 
as  now.  Political  information  was  disseminated  chiefly  by  public 
speaking,  and  every  one  aspiring  to  lead  in  the  land  was  expected  to 
be  a  fine  speaker.  This  method,  and  the  manner  of  voting,  forced 
an  open  avowal  of  political  opinion.  Each  candidate,  upon  the 
day  of  election,  took  his  seat  upon  the  bench  of  the  judge  in  the 
county  court-house,  and  the  suffragist  appeared  at  the  bar,  demand- 
ing to  exercise  his  privilege  in  the  choice  of  his  representative.  This 
was  done  by  declaring  the  names  of  those  he  voted  for.  These 
peculiar  institutions  cultivated  open  and  manly  bearing,  pride,  and 
independence.  There  was  little  opportunity  for  the  arts  of  the  ' 
demagogue  j  and  the  elevation  of  sentiment  in  the  suffragist  made 
him  despise  the  man,  however  superior  his  talents,  who  would 
attempt  them.  The  voter's  pride  was  to  sustain  the  power  of  his 
State  in  the  national  councils,  to  have  a  great  man  for  his  Governor ; 
they  were  the  representatives  of  his  class,  and  he  felt  his  own 
importance  in  the  greatness  of  his  representative.  It  is  not  to  be  • 


FIFTY     YEARS. 

wondered  at,  under  these  cinumsunres,  dut  Virginia  held  for 
years  die  control  of  die  Government,  furnishing  Presidents  of  tran- 
scendent abilities  to  thr  "*t**Ht_  and  filling  her  councOs  wkh  men 

won  for  diem,  not  only  die  respect  of  die  nation's  representatives.. 
but  die  power  to  control  die  nation's  destinies,  and  to  be  looked 

•  belonging  to  a  superior  race. 

There  were  wanting,  however,  two  great  elements  in  die  nation's 
its  pride  and  efficiency  this  peculiar  advan- 
•-'."-...'."         . 

gan  to  be  subdivided,  and  in  propor- 
tion as  diey  dwindled  into  hmgnhVanrr,  so  began  to  perish  die 
prestige  of  dteu  proprietois.  Toe  mstxtoooo  of  African  slavery 
served  for  a  long  time  to  flHJ  in  continuing  die  UMtULUiM,  features  of 
Virginia  society,  tboogh  k  confaied  no  legal  piufltgts.  As  these. 

element  began  to  aspire  and  to  be  felt.     The  struggle  was  long  and 
severe,  but  finaDy,  mi  8*9  or  1 830,  die  democratic  elenx 


This  degraded  die  constituent  and 


and  all  of  Virginia's  power  was  soon  lost  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation.  But  the  pride  of  her  people  did  not  perish  with  her  aris- 
tocracy f  this  continued,  and  permeated  her  entire  people*  They 
preserved  it  at  home,  and  earned  it  wherever  they  went.  Those 
whose  consideration  at  home  was  at  zero,  became  of  die  first  families 
abroad,  until  Virginia  pride  became  a  by-word  of  scorn  in  die  west- 
ern and  more  Mjulhua  <km  \  Yet  despite  all  this,  dtere  is  great - 
BCSS  m  nW  \  irgmians  t  there  is  Mi|tf  iiiniiy  m  her  people,  •^—a,  lunt- 
•  UK  of  soul ,  A  generosity  of  hospitality,  a  dignified  patience  under 
which  command  die  nsfxit  and  admiration  of  ciu y 


Very  soon  after  die  Rerotntion,  die  tide  of  emigration  began  to 
flow  toward  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  Georgia.  Those  from  Vir- 
ginia who  sought  new  homes  went  principally  to  Kentucky,  as  much 
bcraiBc  k  was  a  part  of  die  Old  Dominion,  as  on  account  of  dnvafte 
•adsoO.  tlmwflnBlfeACm^BMa^SamliGMdBmpNiemi 
Tennessee,  and  what  was  then  known  as  Upper  Georgia,  bat  now  as 
Middle  Georgia;  yet  there  was  a  sprinkling  here  azid  tnere  diroogh- 


24.  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

out  Georgia  from  Virginia.  Many  of  these  became  leading  men  in 
the  State, and  their  descendants  still  boast  of  their  origin,  and  in  plen- 
ary pride  point  to  such  men  as  William  H.  Crawford  and  Peter  Early 
as  shining  evidences  of  the  superiority  of  Virginia's  blood. 

Most  of  these  emigrants,  however,  were  poor  j  but  where  all  were 
poor,  this  was  no  degradation.  The  concomitants  of  poverty  in 
densely  populated  communities  —  where  great  wealth  confers  social 
distinction  and  frowns  from  its  association  the  poor,  making  poverty 
humility,  however  elevated  its  virtues  —  were  unknown  in  these  new 
countries.  The  nobler  virtues,  combined  with  energy  and  intellect, 
alone  conferred  distinction ;  and  I  doubt  if  the  world,  ever  furnished 
a  more  honest,  virtuous,  energetic,  or  democratic  association  of  men 
and  women  than  was,  at  the  period  of  which  I  write,  to  be  found 
constituting  the  population  of  these  new  States.  From  whatever 
cause  arising,  there  certainly  was,  in  the  days  of  my  early  memory, 
more  scrupulous  truth,  open  frankness,  and  pure,  blunt  honesty  per- 
vading the  whole  land  than  seem  to  characterize  its  present  popula- 
tion. It  was  said  by  Nathaniel  Macon,  of  North  Carolina,  that  bad 
roads  and  fist-fights  made  the  best  militia  on  earth ;  and  these  may 
have  been,  in  some  degree,  the  means  of  moulding  into  fearless 
honesty  the  character  of  these  people.  They  encountered  all  the 
hardships  of  opening  and  subduing  the  country,  creating  highways, 
bridges,  churches,  and  towns  with  their  public  buildings.  These 
they  met  cheerfully,  and  working  with  a  will,  triumphed.  After 
months  oi  labor,  a  few  acres  were  cleared  and  the  trees  cut  into  con- 
venient lengths  for  handling,  and  then  the  neighbors  were  invited  to 
assist  in  what  was  called  a  log-rolling.  This  aid  was  cheerfully 
given,  and  an  offer  to  pay  for  it  would  have  been  an  insult.  It  was 
returned  in  kind,  however,  when  a  neighbor's  necessities  required. 
These  log-rollings  were  generally  accompanied  with  a  quilting, 
which  brought  together  the  youth  of  the  neighborhood ;  and  the 
winding  up  of  the  day's  work  was  a  frolic,  as  the  dance  and  other 
amusements  of  the  time  were  termed.  Upon  occasions  like  this, 
feats  of  strength  and  activity  universally  constituted  a  part  of  the 
programme.  The  youth  who  could  pull  down  his  man  at  the  end 
of  the  hand-stick,  throw  him  in  a  wrestle,  or  outstrip  him  in  a  foot- 
race, was  honored  as  the  best  man  in  the  settlement,  and  was  always 
greeted  with  a  cheer  from  the  older  men,  a  slap  on  the  shoulder  by 


FIFTY     YEARS.  25 

the  old  ladies,  and  the  shy  but  approving  smiles  of  the  girls, — had 
his  choice  of  partners  in  the  dance,  and  in  triumph  rode  home  on 
horseback  with  his  belle,  the  horse's  consciousness  of  bearing  away 
the  championship  manifesting  itself  in  an  erect  head  and  stately  step. 

The  apparel  of  male  and  female  was  of  home-spun,  woven  by 
the  mothers  and  sisters,  and  was  fashioned,  I  was  about  to  say,  by 
the  same  fair  hands ;  but  these  were  almost  universally  embrowned 
with  exposure  and  hardened  by  toil.  Education  was  exceedingly 
limited  :  the  settlements  were  sparse,  and  school-houses  were  at  long 
intervals,  and  in  these  the  mere  rudiments  of  an  English  education 
were  taught  —  spelling,  reading,  and  writing,  with  the  four  elemen- 
tary rules  of  arithmetic;  and  it  was  a  great  advance  to  grapple  with 
the  grammar  of  the  language.  As  population  and  prosperity  in- 
;  creased,  their  almost  illiterate  teachers  gave  place  to  a  better  class ; 
and  many  of  my  Georgia  readers  will  remember  as  among  these  the 
old  Irish  preachers,  Cummings,  and  that  remarkable  brute,  Daniel 
Duffce.  He  was  an  Irishman  of  the  Pat  Freney  stripe,  and  I  fancy 
there  are  many,  with  gray  heads  and  wrinkled  fronts,  who  can  look 
upon  the  cicatrices  resulting  from  his  merciless  blows,  and  remem- 
ber that  Milesian  malignity  of  face,  with  its  toad-like  nose,  with 
the  same  vividness  with  which  it  presents  itself  to  me  to-day.  Yes, 
I  remember  it,  and  have  cause.  When  scarcely  ten  years  of  age,  in 
his  little  log  school-house,  the  aforesaid  resemblance  forced  itself 
upon  me  with  such  vim  that  involuntarily  I  laughed.  For  this 
outbreak  against  the  tyrant's  rules  I  was  called  to  his  frowning 
presence. 

"What  are  you  laughing  at,  you  whelp?"  was  the  rude  inquiry. 

Tremblingly  I  replied  :   "  You  will  whip  me  if  I  tell  you." 

"And  you  little  devil,  I  will  whip  you  if  you  don't,"  was  his 
rejoinder,  as  he  reached  for  his  well-trimmed  hickory,  one  of  many 
conspicuously  displayed  upon"  his  table.  With  truthful  sincerity  I 
answered : 

"Father  Duffy,  I  was  laughing  to  think  how  much  your  nose  is 
like  a  frog." 

It  was  just  after  play-time,  and  I  was  compelled  to  stand  by  him 
and  at  intervals  of  ten  minutes  receive  a  dozen  lashes,  laid  on  with 
brawny  Irish  strength,  until  discharged  with  the  school  at  night. 
To-day  I  bear  the  marks  of  that  whipping  upon  my  shoulders  and 


26  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

in  my  heart.  But  Duffy  was  not  alone  in  the  strictness  and  severity 
of  his  rules  and  his  punishments.  •  Children  were  taught  to  believe 
that  there  could  be  no  discipline  in  a  school  of  boys  and  girls  with- 
out the  savage  brutality  of  the  lash,  and  the  teacher  who  met  his 
pupils  with  a  caressing  smile  was  considered  unworthy  his  vocation. 
Learning  must  be  thrashed  into  the  tender  mind  ;  nothing  was  such 
a  stimulus  to  the  young  memory  as  the  lash  and  the  vulgar,  abusive 
reproof  of  the  gentle  and  meritorious  teacher. 

There  was  great  eccentricity  of  character  in  all  the  conduct  and 
language  of  Duffy.  He  had  his  own  method  of  prayer,  and  his  own 
peculiar  style  of  preaching,  frequently  calling  out  the  names  of  per- 
sons in  his  audience  whom  it  was  his  privilege  to  consider  the 
chiefest  of  sinners,  and  to  implore  mercy  for  them  in  language 
offensive  almost  to  decency.  Sometimes,  in  the  presence  of  per- 
sons inimical  to  each  other,  he  would  ask  the  Lord  to  convert  the 
sinners  and  make  the  fools  friends,  first  telling  the  Lord  who  they 
were  by  name,  to  the  no  small  amusement  of  his  most  Christian 
audience ;  many  of  whom  would  in  deep  devotion  respond  with  a 
sonorous  "Amen." 

From  such  a  population  sprang  the  present  inhabitants  of  Georgia; 
and  by  such  men  were  they  taught,  in  their  budding  boyhood,  the 
rudiments  of  an  English  education ;  — such,  I  mean,  of  the  inhabitants 
who  still  live  and  remember  Duffy,  Cummings,  and  McLean.  They 
are  few,  but  the  children  of  the  departed  remember  traditionally 
these  and  their  like,  in  the  schoolmasters  of  Georgia  from  1 790  to 
1815. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812-15,  a  new  impetus  was  given  to 
everything  throughout  the  South,  and  especially  to  education.  The 
ambition  for  wealth  seized  upon  her  people,  the  high  price  of  cotton 
favored  its  accumulation,  and  with  it  came  new  and  more  extravagant 
wants,  new  and  more  luxurious  habits.  The  plain  homespun  jean 
coat  gave  way  to  the  broad-cloth  one ;  and  the  neat,  Turkey-red 
striped  Sunday  frock  of  the  belle  yielded  to  the  gaudy  red  calico 
one,  and  there  was  a  sniff  of  aristocratic  contempt  in  the  upturned 
nose  towards  those  who,  from  choice  or  necessity,  continued  in  the 
old  habits. 

Material  wealth  augmented  rapidly,  and  with  it  came  all  of  its 
assumptions.  The  rich  lands  of  Alabama  were  open  to  settlement. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  2/ 

The  formidable  Indian  had  been  humbled,  and  many  of  the 
wealthiest  cultivators  of  the  soil  were  commencing  to  emigrate  to  a 
newer  and  more  fertile  country,  where  smiling  Fortune  beckoned 
them. 

The  first  to  lead  off  in  this  exodus  was  the  Bibb  family,  long  dis- 
tinguished for  wealth  and  influence  in  the  State.  The  VVatkinses, 
the  Sheroos,  and  Dearings  followed :  some  to  north,  some  to  south 
Alabama.  W.  W.  Bibb  was  appointed,  by  Mr.  Madison,  Territorial 
Governor  of  Alabama,  and  was  followed  to  the  new  El  Dorado  by 
his  brothers,  Thomas,  John  Dandridge,  and  Benajah,  all  men  of 
substance  and  character. 

For  a  time  this  rage  for  a  new  country  seemed  to  threaten  Georgia 
and  South  Carolina  with  the  loss  of  their  best  population.  This 
probably  would  have  been  the  result  of  the  new  acquisition,  but,  in 
its  midst,  the  territory  between  the  Ocmulgee  and  Chattahoochee 
was  ceded  by  the  Indians,  and  afforded  a  new  field  for  settlement, 
which  effectually  arrested  this  emigration  at  its  flood.  The  new 
territory  added  to  the  dominion  of  Georgia  was  acquired  mainly 
through  the  energy  and  pertinacity  of  George  M.  Troup,  at  the 
time  Governor  of  Georgia. 

I  have  much  to  record  of  my  memories  concerning  this  new  acqui- 
sition, but  must  reserve  them  for  a  new  chapter. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  GEORGIA  COMPANY. 

YAZOO  PURCHASE  —  GOVERNOR  MATHEWS—  JAMES  JACKSON  —  BURNING  or 
THE  YAZOO  ACT—  DEVELOPMENT  OF  FREE  GOVERNMENT  —  CONSTITUTIONAL 
CONVENTION  —  SLAVERY:  ITS  INTRODUCTION  AND  EFFECTS. 


grant  by  the  British  Government  of  the  territory  of  Geor- 
JL     gia  to  General  Oglethorpe  and  company,  comprised  what  now 
constitutes  the  entire  States  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi, 
except   that    portion  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi  lying  below   the 


28  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

thirty-first  degree  of  north  latitude,  which  portions  of  those  States 
were  originally  part  of  West  Florida. 

The  French  settlements  extended  up  the  Mississippi,  embracing 
both  sides  of  that  river  above  the  mouth  of  Red  River,  which  dis- 
charges into  the  former  in  the  thirty-first  degree  of  north  latitude. 
The  river  from  the  mouth  of  the  Bayou  Manshac,  which  left  the 
river  fourteen  miles  below  Baton  Rouge,  on  the  east  side,  up  to  the 
thirty-first  degree  of  north  latitude,  was  the  boundary  line  between 
West  Florida  and  Louisiana.  Above  this  point  the  French  claimed 
jurisdiction  on  both  sides ;  but  Georgia  disputed  this  jurisdiction 
over  the  east  bank,  and  claimed  to  own  from  the  thirty-first  to  the 
thirty-sixth  degree  of  latitude.  There  were  many  settlements  made 
by  Americans  upon  this  territory  at  a  very  early  day, —  one  at 
Natchez,  one  at  Fort  Adams,  and  several  on  the  Tombigbee,  the 
St.  Stephens,  at  Mclntosh's  Bluff,  and  on  Bassett's  Creek.  These 
settlements  formed  the  nucleus  of  an  American  population  in  the 
States  of  Mississippi  and  Alabama.  The  lands  bordering  upon  these 
rivers  and  their  tributaries  were  known  to  be  exceedingly  fertile,  and 
proffered  inducements  to  settlers  unequalled  in  all  the  South.  Specu- 
lation was  very  soon  directed  to  these  regions.  A  company  was 
formed  of  citizens  of  Georgia  and  Virginia  for  the  purchase  of  an 
immense  tract  of  territory,  including  most  of  what  is  now  Mississippi 
and  Alabama.  This  company  was  known  as  the  Georgia  Company, 
and  the  territory  as  the  Yazoo  Purchase.  It  was  a  joint-stock 
company,  and  managed  by  trustees  or  directors.  The  object  was 
speculation.  It  was  intended  to  purchase  from  Georgia  this  domain, 
then  to  survey  it  and  subdivide  it  into  tracts  to  suit  purchasers. 
Parties  were  delegated  to  make  this  purchase :  this  could  only  be 
done  by  the  Legislature  and  by  special  act  passed  for  that  purpose. 
The  proposition  was  made,  and  met  with  formidable  opposition. 
The  scheme  was  a  gigantic  one  and  promised  great  results,  and  the 
parties  concerned  were  bold  and  unscrupulous.  They  very  soon 
ascertained  that  means  other  than  honorable  to  either  party  must  be 
resorted  to  to  secure  success.  The  members  to  be  operated  upon 
were  selected,  and  the  company's  agents  began  the  work.  Enough 
was  made,  by  donations  of  stock  and  the  direct  payment  of  money  by 
those  interested  in  the  scheme,  to  effect  the  passage  of  the  Act  and  se- 
cure the  contract  of  purchase  and  sale.  The  opposition  denied  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  29 

power  of  the  Legislature  to  sell;  asserting  that  the  territory  was 
sacred  to  the  people  of  the  State,  and  that  those,  in  selecting  their 
representatives,  had  never  contemplated  delegating  any  such  powers 
as  would  enable  them  to  dispose  by  sale  of  any  part  of  the  public 
domain  ;  that  it  was  the  province  of  the  Legislature,  under  the  Con- 
stitution, to  pass  laws  for  the  general  good  alone,  and  not  to  bar- 
ter or  sell  any  portion  of  the  territory  of  the  State  to  be  separated 
from  the  domain  and  authority  of  the  State.  They  insisted  that  the 
matter  should  be  referred  to  the  people,  who  at  the  next  election  of 
members  to  the  Legislature  should  declare  their  will  and  intention 
as  to  this  sale. 

On  the  other  side  they  were  met  with  the  argument,  that  the 
Legislature  was  sovereign  and  the  supreme  power  of  the  State,  and 
might  rightfully  do  anything,  not  forbidden  in  the  Constitution,  per- 
taining to  sovereignty,  which  they  in  their  wisdom  might  deem  essen- 
tial to  the  general  welfare  ;  that  the  territory  included  in  the  grant 
to  Oglethorpe  and  company  was  entirely  too  extended,  and  that  by 
a  sale  a  new  State  or  States  would  be  formed,  which  would  increase 
the  political  power  of  the  South  —  especially  in  the  United  States. 
Senate,  where  she  greatly  needed  representation  to  counterbalance 
the  influence  of  the  small  States  of  the  North  in  that  body.  These 
arguments  were  specious,  but  it  was  well  understood  they  were  only 
meant  to  justify  a  vote  for  the  measure  which  corruption  had 
secured. 

The  Act  was  passed  by  a  bare  majority  of  both  branches  of  the 
Legislature,  and  the  sale  consummated.  Before  the  passage  of  this 
measure,  the  will  of  the  people  had  been  sufficiently  expressed  in  the 
indignant  outburst  of  public  feeling,  as  to  leave  no  doubt  upon  the 
minds  of  the  corrupt  representatives  that  they  had  not  only  for- 
feited the  public  confidence,  but  had  actually  imperilled  their  per- 
sonal safety.  Upon  the  return  to  their  homes,  after  the  adjourn- 
ment, they  were  not  only  met  with  universal  scorn,  but  with  inap- 
peasable  rage.  Some  of  the  most  guilty  were  slain ;  some  had  their 
houses  burned  over  their  heads,  and  others  fled  the  State ;  one  was 
pursued  and  killed  in  Virginia,  and  all  not  only  entailed  upon  them- 
selves infamy,  but  also  upon  their  innocent  posterity ;  and  to-day,  to 
be  known  as  the  descendant  of  a  Yazoo  man  is  a  badge  of  disgrace. 
The  deed,  however,  was  done:  how  to  undo  it  became  an  agitating 
3* 


3O  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

question.  The  Legislature  next  ensuing  was  elected  pledged  to 
repeal  the  odious  Act;  and  upon  its  convening,  all  made  haste  to 
manifest  an  ardent  zeal  in  this  work. 

At  the  time  of  the  passage  of  this  Act,  the  Legislature  sat  in 
Augusta,  and  the  Governor  who  by  the  Act  was  empowered  to 
make  the  sale  was  George  Mathews.  Mathews  was  an  Irishman 
by  birth,  and  was  very  illiterate,  but  a  man  of  strong  passions  and 
indomitable  will.  During  the  war  of  the  Revolution  he  had,  as  a 
partisan  officer,  gained  some  distinction,  and  in  the  upper  counties 
exercised  considerable  influence.  Many  anecdotes  are  related  of 
his  intrepidity  and  daring,  and  quite  as  many  of  his  extraordinary 
orthography.  At  the  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs,  in  South  Carolina, 
he  was  severely  wounded,  at  the  moment  when  the  Continental  forces 
were  retiring  to  a  better  position.  A  British  soldier,  noticing  some 
vestiges  of  a  uniform  upon  him,  lifted  his  musket  to  stab  him  with 
the  bayonet;  his  commander  caught  the  weapon,  and  angrily  de- 
manded, "  Would  you  murder  a  wounded  officer  ?  Forward,  sir  !  " 
Mathews,  turning  upon  his  back,  asked,  "To  whom  do  I  owe  my 
life?"  "If  you  consider  it  an  obligation,  sir,  to  me,"  answered 
the  lieutenant.  Mathews  saw  the  uniform  was  British,  and  furiously 
replied,  "  Well,  sir,  I  want  you  to  know  that  I  scorn  a  life  saved  by 
a  d d  Briton."  The  writer  had  the  anecdote  from  a  distin- 
guished citizen  of  Georgia,  who  was  himself  lying  near  by,  severely 
wounded,  and  who  in  one  of  his  sons  has  given  to  Georgia  a 
Governor. 

General  Wade  Hampton,  George  Walker,  William  Longstreet, 
Zachariah  Cox,  and  Matthew  McAllister  were  the  parties  most  active 
in  procuring  the  passage  of  the  Yazoo  Act.  That  bribery  was 
extensively  practised,  there  is  no  doubt,  and  the  suspicion  that  it  even 
extended  to  the  Executive  gained  credence  as  a  fact,  and  was  the 
cause  of  preventing  his  name  ever  being  given  to  a  county  in  the 
State :  and  it  is  a  significant  fact  of  this  suspicion,  and  also  of  the 
great  unpopularity  of  the  Act,  that  to  this  day  every  effort  to  that 
end  has  failed.  No  act  of  Governor  Mathews  ever  justified  any 
such  suspicion.  As  Governor  of  the  State,  and  believing  the  sover- 
eign power  of  the  State  was  in  the  Legislature,  and  consequently  the 
power  to  dispose  of  the  public  domain,  he  only  approved  the  Act  as 
the  State's  Executive,  and  fulfilled  the  duties  assigned  to  him  by  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  3! 

law.  But  suspicion  fastened  upon  him,  and  its  effects  remain  to 
this  day. 

The  pertinacious  discussions  between  the  parties  purchasing  and 
those  opposed  to  the  State's  selling  and  her  authority  to  sell,  created 
immense  excitement,  and  pervaded  the  entire  State.  The  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  was  invoked  in  the  case 
of  Fletcher  versus  Peck,  which  settled  the  question  of  the  power  of 
the  State  to  sell  the  public  domain,  and  the  validity  of  the  sale  made 
by  the  State  to  the  Georgia  Company.  In  the  meantime  the  Legis- 
lature of  Georgia  had  repealed  the  law  authorizing  the  Governor  to 
sell.  This  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  brought  about  an  amicable 
adjustment  of  the  difficulties  between  the  Company  and  the  State, 
with  the  Government  of  the  United  States  as  a  third  party. 

The  excitement  was  not  so  much  on  account  of  the  sale,  though 
this  was  bitter,  as  of  the  corruption  which  procured  it.  The  test  of 
public  confidence  and  social  respect  was  opposition  to  the  Yazoo 
fraud.  Every  candidate  at  the  ensuing  election  for  members  of  the 
Legislature  was  compelled  to  declare  his  position  on  the  subject  of 
repealing  this  Act,  and,  almost  to  a  man,  every  one  who  believed  in 
the  power  of  the  State  to  sell,  and  that  rights  had  vested  in  the  pur- 
chasers and  their  assigns,  was  defeated. 

James  Jackson,  a  young,  ardent,  and  talented  man,  who  had  in 
very  early  life,  by  his  abilities  and  high  character,  so  won  the  public 
confidence  that  he  had  been  elected  Governor  of  the  State,  when 
he  was  ineligible  because  of  his  youth,  was  at  this  time  a  member  of 
Congress.  He  made  a  tour  through  the  State,  preaching  a  crusade 
against  the  corrupt  Legislature,  and  denouncing  those  who  had  pro- 
duced and  profited  by  this  corruption,  inflaming  the  public  mind 
almost  to  frenzy.  He  resided  in  Savannah,  and  was  at  the  head 
of  the  Republican  or  Jeffersonian  party,  which  was  just  then  being 
organized  in  opposition  to  the  administration  of  John  Adams,  the 
successor  of  Washington.  His  parents  had  emigrated  from  England, 
and  fixed  their  home  in  Savannah,  where  young  Jackson  was  born, 
and  where,  from  the  noble  qualities  of  his  nature,  he  had  become 
immensely  popular. 

Talent  and  virtuous  merit  at  that  period  was  the  passport  to  public 
confidence.  Had  it  continued  to  be,  we  should  never  have  known 
the  present  deplorable  condition  of  the  country,  with  the  Govern- 


22  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

ment  sinking  Into  ruin  ere  it  has  reached  the  ten  o'clock  of  national 

life. 

His  Shibboleth  was/that  the  disgrace  of  the  State  must  be  wiped 
by  the  repeal  of  the  Yazoo  Act;  and  repeal rang  from  every  mouth, 
from  Savannah  to  the  mountains.  Jackson  resigned  his  seat  in  Con- 
gress, and  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature.  Immediately 
upon  the  assembling  of  this  body,  a  bill  was  introduced  repealing 
the  odious  Act,  and  ordering  the  records  containing  it  to  be  burned. 
This  was  carried  out  to  the  letter.  Jackson,  heading  the  Legislature 
and  the  indignant  public,  proceeded  in  procession  to  the  public 
square  in  Louisville,  Jefferson  County,  where  the  law  and  the  fagots 
were  piled ;  when,  addressing  the  assembled  multitude,  he  denounced 
the  men  who  had  voted  for  the  law  as  bribed  villains  —  those  who 
had  bribed  them,  and  the  Governor  who  had  signed  it ;  and  declared 
that  fire  from  heaven  only  could  sanctify  the  indignation  of  God 
and  man  in  consuming  the  condemned  record  of  accursed  crime. 
Then,  with  a  Promethean  or  convex  glass  condensing  the  sun's  rays, 
he  kindled  the  flame  which  consumed  the  records  containing  the 
hated  Yazoo  Act. 

Jackson  was  a  man  of  ordinary  height,  slender,  very  erect  in  his 
carriage,  with  red  hair  and  intensely  blue  eyes.  His  manners  were 
courteous,  affable,  and  remarkable  for  a  natural  dignity  which  added 
greatly  to  his  influence  with  the  people.  He  was  the  model  from 
which  was  grown  that  chivalry  and  nobility  of  soul  and  high  bearing 
so  characteristic  of  the  people  of  Southern  Georgia.  In  truth,  the 
essence  of  his  character  seemed  subtilly  to  pervade  the  entire  circle 
in  which  he  moved,  inspiring  a  purity  of  character,  a  loftiness  of 
honor,  which  rebuked  with  its  presence  alone  everything  that  was 
low,  little,  or  dishonest.  Subsequently  he  was  elected  Governor  of 
the  State,  bringing  all  the  qualities  of  his  nature  into  the  administra- 
tion of  the  ofhce;  he  gave  it  a  dignity  and  respectability  never 
subsequently  degraded,  until  an  unworthy  son  of  South  Carolina, 
the  pus  and  corruption  of  unscrupulous  party,  was  foisted  into  the 
position.  Strength  of  will,  a  ripe  judgment,  and  purity  of  intention, 
were  the  great  characteristics  distinguishing  him  in  public  life,  and 
these  have  endeared  his  name  to  the  people  of  Georgia,  where  now 
remain  many  of  his  descendants,  some  of  whom  have  filled  high 
positions  in  the  State  and  United  States,  and  not  one  has  ever 


FIFTY     YEARS.  33 

soiled  the  honor  or  tarnished  the  name  with  an  act  unworthy  a 
gentleman. 

The  Revolutionary  struggle  called  out  all  the  nobler  qualities 
nature  has  bestowed  on  man,  in  those  who  conceived  the  desire  and 
executed  the  determination  to  be  free.  The  heroic  was  most  promi- 
nent: woman  seemed  to  forget  her  feebleness  and  timidity,  and 
boldly  to  dare,  and  with  increased  fortitude  to  bear  every  danger, 
every  misfortune,  with  a  heroism  scarcely  compatible  with  the  deli- 
cacy of  her  nature.  To  this,  or  some  other  inexplicable  cause, 
nature  seemed  to  resort  in  preparation  for  coming  events.  In  every 
State  there  came  up  men,  born  during  the  war  or  immediately  there- 
after, of  giant  minds — men  seemingly  destined  to  form  and  give 
direction  to  a  new  Government  suited  to  the  genius  of  the  people 
and  to  the  physical  peculiarities  of  the  country  where  it  was  to  control 
the  destinies  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  human  beings  yet  unborn, 
and  where  the  soil  was  virgin  and  unturned,  which  nature  had  pre- 
pared for  their  coming.  This  required  a  new  order  of  men.  These 
millions  were  to  be  free  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word  ;  they  were 
only  to  be  controlled  by  laws ;  and  the  making  of  these  laws  was  to 
be  their  own  work,  and  nature  was  responding  to  the  exigencies  of 
man. 

The  early  probation  of  independent  government  taught  the  neces- 
sity of  national  concentration  as  to  the  great  features  of  government, 
at  the  same  time  demonstrating  the  importance  of  keeping  the  minor 
powers  of  government  confined  to  the  authority  of  the  States.  In 
the  assembling  of  a  convention  for  this  purpose,  which  grew  out  of 
the  free  action  of  the  people  of  each  State,  uninfluenced  by  law  or 
precedent,  we  see  congregated  a  body  of  men  combining  more 
talent,  more  wisdom,  and  more  individuality  of  character  than  per- 
haps was  ever  aggregated  in  any  other  public  body  ever  assembled. 
From  this  convention  of  sages  emanated  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States;  and  most  of  .those  constituting  this  body  reassembled 
in  the  first  Congress,  which  sat  as  the  supreme  power  in  the  United 
Suites.  It  was  these  men  and  their  coadjutors  who  inaugurated  and 
gave  direction  to  the  new  Government.  Under  its  operations,  the 
human  mind  and  human  soul  seemed  to  expand  and  to  compass 
a  grasp  it  had  scarcely  known  before.  There  were  universal  content 
and  universal  harmony.  The  laws  were  everywhere  respected,  and 

C 


34 


THE     MEMORIES     OF 


everywhere  enforced.  The  freedom  of  thought,  and  the  liberty  of 
action  unrestrained,  stimulated  an  ambition  in  every  man  to  dis- 
charge his  duties  faithfully  to  the  Government,  and  honestly  in  all 
social  relations.  There  was  universal  security  to  person  and  prop- 
erty, because  every  law-breaker  was  deemed  a  public  enemy,  and 
not  only  received  the  law's  condemnation,  but  the  public  scorn. 
Under  such  a  Government  the  rapid  accumulation  of  wealth  and 
population  was  a  natural  consequence.  The  history  of  the  world 
furnishes  no  example  comparable  with  the  progress  of  the  United 
States  to  national  greatness.  The  civilized  world  appeared  to  feel 
the  influence  of  her  example  and  to  start  anew  in  the  rivalry  of 
greatness.  Her  soil's  surplus  products  created  the  means  of  a  widely 
extended  commerce,  and  Americans  can  proudly  refer  to  the  eighty 
years  of  her  existence  as  a  period  showing  greater  progress  in  wealth, 
refinement,  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  human  liberty,  than  was  ever 
experienced  in  any  two  centuries  of  time  within  the  historical  period 
of  man's  existence.  My  theme  expands,  and  I  am  departing  from  the 
purposes  of  this  work ;  yet  I  cannot  forbear  the  expression  of  opin- 
ion as  to  the  causes  of  this  result.  I  know  I  shall  incur  the  deepest 
censure  from  the  professors  of  a  mawkish  philanthropy,  and  a 
hypocritical  religion  which  is  cursing  with  its  cant  the  very  sources 
of  this  unparalleled  progress,  this  unexampled  prosperity. 

Slavery  was  introduced  into  the  Colonies  by  English  merchants 
about  two  centuries  since  :  this  was  to  supply  a  necessity  —  labor — 
for  the  purpose  of  developing  the  resources  of  this  immense  and 
fertile  country.  The  African  was  designed  by  the  Creator  to  sub- 
serve this  purpose.  His  centre  of  creation  was  within  the  tropics, 
and  his  physical  organization  fitted  him,  and  him  alone,  for  field 
labor  in  the  tropical  and  semi-tropical  regions  of  the  earth.  He 
endures  the  sun's  heat  without  pain  or  exhaustion  in  this  labor,  and 
yet  he  has  not  nor  can  he  acquire  the  capacity  to  direct  profitably 
this  labor.  It  was  then  the  design  of  the  Creator  that  this  labor 
should  be  controlled  and  directed  by  a  superior  intelligence.  In 
the  absence  of  mental  capacity,  we  find  him  possessed  of  equal 
physical  powers  with  any  other  race,  with  an  amiability  of  temper 
which  submits  without  resistance  to  this  control.  We  find  him,  too, 
without  moral,  social,  or  political  aspirations,  contented  and  happy 
in  the  condition  of  servility  to  this  superior  intelligence,  and  rising 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


35 


in  the  scale  of  humanity  to  a  condition  which  under  any  other  circum- 
stances his  race  had  never  attained.  I  may  be  answered  that  this 
labor  can  be  had  from  the  black  as  a  freeman  as  well  as  in  the 
condition  of  a  slave.  To  this  I  will  simply  say,  experience  has 
proved  this  to  be  an  error.  Such  is  the  indolence  and  unambitious 
character  of  the  negro  that  he  will  not  labor,  unless  compelled  by  the 
apprehension  of  immediate  punishment,  to  anything  approaching  his 
capacity  for  labor.  His  wants  are  few,  they  are  easily  supplied, 
and  when  they  are,  there  is  no  temptation  which  will  indoce  him  to 
work.  He  cares  nothing  for  social  position,  and  will  steal  to  supply 
his  necessities,  and  feel  no  abasement  in  the  legal  punishment 
which  follows  his  conviction  ;  nor  is  his  social  status  among  his  race 
•  damaged  thereby.  As  a  slave  to  the  white  man,  he  becomes  and 
has  proved  an  eminently  useful  being  to  his  kind — in  every  other 
condition,  equally  conspicuous  as  a  useless  one.  The  fertility  of 
the  soil  and  the  productions  of  the  tropical  regions  of  the  earth 
demonstrate  to  the  thinking  mind  that  these  were  to  be  cultivated 
and  made  to  produce  for  the  uses  and  prosperity  of  the  human 
family.  The  great  staples  of  human  necessity  and  human  luxury 
are  produced  here  in  the  greatest  abundance,  and  the  great  majority 
of  these  nowhere  else.  The  white  man,  from  his  physical  organiza- 
tion, cannot  perform  in  these  regions  the  labor  necessary  to  their 
production.  His  centre  of  creation  is  in  the  temperate  zones,  and 
only  there  can  he  profitably  labor  in  the  earth's  cultivation.  But 
his  mental  endowments  enable  him  to  appropriate  all  which  nature 
has  supplied  for  the  necessities  of  life  and  the  progress  of  his  race. 
He  sees  and  comprehends  in  nature  the  designs  of  her  Creator : 
these  designs  he  develops,  and  the  consequence  is  a  constant  and 
enlightened  progress  of  his  race,  and  the  subjection  of  the  physical 
world  to  this  end. 

He  finds  the  soil,  the  climate,  the  production,  and  the  labor 
united,  and  he  applies  his  intelligence  to  develop  the  design  of  this 
combination ;  and  the  consequence  has  been  the  wonderful  progress 
of  the  last  two  centuries.  I  hold  it  as  a  great  truth  that  nature 
points  to  her  uses  and  ends  ;  that  to  observe  these  and  follow  them 
is  to  promote  the  greatest  happiness  to  the  human  family  ;  and  that 
wherever  these  aims  are  diverted  or  misdirected,  retrogression  and 
human  misery  are  the  consequence.  In  all  matters,  experience  is  a 
better  test  than  speculation  ;  and  to  surrender  a  great  practical  utility 


g  THE     MEM  OKIES     OF 

,0  a  mere  theory  is  great  folly.     But  it  has  been  done,  and  we  abide 


na  spurious,  pretentious  religion  has  been  the 
cmreur  of  their  destruction.  In  their  incept.on  and  early  progress 
uTurse  xercises  but  slight  influence,  and  their  growth  ,s  conse- 
healthy  and  vigorous.  All  nations  have  concealed  dm  car, 


paralyzed  the  mind,  forbidding  its  development,  are 
unnatural  superstition  ceases  to  circumscribe  and  influence  it*  opera-  f 
tions;  and  thus  emancipated,  it  recovers  its  elasticity  and  springs  for- 
ward toward  the  perfection  of  the  Creator.    Rescued  from  these  baleful 
influences,  the  new  organization  is  vigorous  and  rapid  in  its 
yielding  the  beneficent  blessings  natural  to  the  healthful  and  unabusc 
energies  of  the  mind.     But  with  maturity  and  age  the  webs  of  super 
stition  begin  to  fasten  on  the  mind  ;  priests  become  prominent,  and 
is  their  wont,  the  moment  they  shackle  the  mind,  they  reach  out  for 
power,  and  the  chained  disciple  of  their  superstition  willingly  yields, 
under  the  vain  delusion  that  he  shares  and  participates  in  this  powe 
as  a  holy  office  for  the  propagation  of  his  creed—  and  retrogre 
commences. 

The  effects  of  African  slavery  in  the  United  States,  upon  th 
dition   of  both   races,  was   eminently  beneficial   to  both.     In   n 
condition,  and  under  no  other  circumstances,  had  the  African  mad 
such  advances  toward  civilization  :  indeed,  I  doubt  if  he  has  n 
attained  in  this  particular  to  the  highest  point  susceptible  to  his  nature. 
He  has  increased  more  rapidly,  and  his  aspirations  have  become  more 
elevated,  and  his  happiness  more  augmented.    With  his  labor  directed 
by  the  intelligence  of  the  white  race,  the  prosperity  of  the  world  has 
increased  in  a  ratio  superior  to  any  antecedent  period.     The  pro- 
duction of  those  staples  which  form  the  principal  bases  of  commerce 
has  increased  in  a  quadruple  ratio.     Cotton  alone  increased  so  rap- 
idly as  to  render  its  price  so  far  below  every  other  article  which  can 
be  fashioned  into  cloth,  that  the  clothing  and  sheeting  of  the  civil- 
ized world  was  -principally  fabricated  from  it.     The  rapidity  of  its 
increased  production  was  only  equalled  by  the  increase  of  wealth 
and  comfort  throughout  the  world.    It  regulates  the  exchanges  almost 


FIFTY     YEARS..  37 

universally.  It  gave,  in  its  growth,  transportation,  and  manufacture, 
employment  to  millions,  feeding  and  clothing  half  of  Europe  — 
increasing  beyond  example  commercial  tonnage,  and  stimulating 
the  invention  of  labor-saving  machinery — giving  a  healthy  impulse 
to  labor  and  enterprise  in  every  avocation,  and  intertwining  itself 
with  every  interest,  throughout  the  broad  expanse  of  civilization  over 
the  earth.  To  cotton,  more  than  to  any  other  one  thing,  is  due  the 
railroad,  steamboat,  and  steamship,  the  increase  of  commerce,  the 
rapid  accumulation  of  fortunes,  and  consequently  the  diffusion  of 
intelligence,  learning,  and  civilization. 

Sugar,  too,  from  the  same  cause,  ceased  to  be  a  luxury,  and  became 
a  necessity  in  the  economy  of  living:  coffee,  too,  became  a  stimu- 
lating beverage  at  every  meal,  instead  of  a  luxury  only  to  be  indulged 
on  rare  occasions.  How  much  the  increased  production  of  these 
three  articles  added  to  the  commerce  and  wealth  of  the  world  during 
the  last  two  centuries,  and  especially  the  last,  is  beyond  computation. 
How  much  of  human  comfort  and  human  happiness  is  now  depend- 
ent upon  their  continued  production,  and  in  such  abundance  as  to 
make  them  accessible  to  the  means  of  all,  may  well  employ  the  earnest 
attention  of  those  who  feel  for  the  interest  and  happiness  of  their  kind 
most.  If  these  results  have  followed  the  institution  of  African  slavery, 
can  it  be  inhuman  and  sinful  ?  Is  it  not  rather  an  evidence  that  the 
Creator  so  designed  ? 

But  this  is  not  all  this  institution  has  effected.  Besides  its  pecuniary 
results,  it  has  inspired  in  the  superior  race  a  nobility  of  feeling, 
resulting  from  a  habit  of  command  and  a  sense  of  independence, 
which  is  peculiar  to  privileged  orders  of  men  in  civilized  society. 
This  feeling  is  manifested  in  high  bearing  and  sensitive  honor,  a 
refinement  of  sentiment  and  chivalrous  emprise  unknown  to  commu- 
nities without  caste.  This  is  to  be  seen  in  the  absence  of  everything 
little  or  mean.  A  noble  hospitality,  a  scorn  of  bargaining,  and  a 
lofty  yet  eminently  deferential  deportment  toward  females:  in  this 
mould  it  has  cast  Southern  society,  and  these  traits  made  the  Southern 
gentleman  remarkable,  wherever  his  presence  was  found. 

These  were  the  men  who  led  in  the  formation  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  and  who  gave  tone  and  character  to  her  legis- 
lative assembly,  so  long  as  they  held  control  of  the  Government.  A 
peer  among  these  was  James  Jackson,  and  many  of  his  confederates, 
of  whom  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  in  the  progress  of  this  work. 
4 


28  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

CHAPTER  IV. 

POLITICAL   DISPUTATIONS. 

BALDWIN— A  YANKEE'S  POLITICAL  STABILITY— THE  YAZOO  QUESTION— PARTY 
FEUDS  AND  FIGHTS  — DEAF  AND  DUMB  MINISTERS  — CLAY  —  JACKSON  — 
BUCHANAN— CALHOUN— COTTON  AND  FREE-TRADE  —  THE  CLAY  AND  RAN- 
DOLPH DUEL. 

AMONG  the  early  immigrants  into  Georgia  were  Abraham 
Baldwin  and  William  H.  Crawford.  Baldwin  was  from  Con- 
necticut, Crawford  from  Virginia.  Baldwin  was  a  man  of  liberal 
education,  and  was  destined  for  the  ministry ;  indeed,  he  had  taken 
orders,  and  was  an  officiating  clergyman  for  some  time  in  his  native 
state.  His  family  was  English,  and  has  given  many  distinguished 
men  to  the  nation.  After  he  arrived  in  Georgia,  where  he  came  to 
engage  in  his  vocation,  he  very  soon  ascertained  his  profession  was 
not  one  which  in  a  new  country  promised  much  profit  or  distinc- 
tion ;  and  possessing  in  an  eminent  degree  that  Yankee  "cuff ness" 
which  is  quick  to  discover  what  is  to  the  interest  of  its  possessor,  he 
abandoned  the  pulpit  for  the  forum,  and  after  a  brief  probation  in 
a  law  office  at  nights  and  a  school-house  by  day,  he  opened  an 
office,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  Augusta.  He  had 
been  educated  a  Federalist  in  politics,  and  had  not  concealed  his 
sentiments  in  his  new  home. 

Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  political  principles  were  extremely  popular 
in  Georgia,  and  though  there  were  some  distinguished  Federalists  in 
Augusta  who  were  leaders  in  her  society,  their  number  in  the  State 
was  too  insignificant  to  hold  out  any  prospect  of  preferment  to  a 
young,  talented,  and  ambitious  aspirant  for  political  distinction. 
Baldwin  was  not  slow  to  discover  this,  and,  with  the  facile  nature  of 
his  race,  abandoned  his  political  creed,  as  he  had  his  professional 
pursuits.  He  saw  Crawford  was  rising  intp  public  notice,  and  he 
knew  his  ability,  and  with  characteristic  impudence  he  thrust  himself 
forward,  and  very  soon  was  made  a  member  of  Congress.  Here  he 
was  true  to  his  last  love,  and  became  a  leading  member  of  the 
Republican  party.  By  his  conduct  in  this  matter  he  made  himself 


F  I  F  T  Y     Y  E  A  R  S.  39 

odious  to  his  New  England  friends,  who  were  unsparing  of  their 
abuse  because  of  his  treachery. 

For  this  he  cared  very  little ;  but  bore  well  in  mind  that  "the  blood 
of  the  martyrs  was  the  seed  of  the  church,"  and  that  the  hate  of  the 
Federalists  was  the  passport  to  Republican  favor.  His  zeal  was  that 
of  the  new  convert,  and  it  won  for  him  the  confidence  of  his  party, 
and  rapid  preferment  in  the  line  of  distinction.  He  was  a  man  of 
decided  abilities,  and  seemed  destined  to  high  distinction ;  but  dying 
early,  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate,  his  hopes  and  aspira- 
tions here  terminated.  The  State  has  honored  and  perj>etuated  his 
name  by  giving  it  to  the  county  wherein  is  situated  her  seat  of 
government. 

Crawford,  like  Baldwin,  taught,  and  studied  law  at  the  same  time. 
He  was  usher  in  a  school  taught  by  his  life-long  friend,  Judge  Yates. 
When  admitted  to  practise  law,  he  located  in  the  little  village  of 
Lexington,  in  the  County  of  Oglethorpe,  and  very  soon  was  not  only 
the  leading  lawyer,  but  the  leading  man  of  all  the  up-country  of 
Georgia. 

Eminence  is  always  envied  :  this  was  conspicuously  the  fortune  of 
Crawford.  The  population  of  the  State  was  increasing  rapidly,  and 
young  aspirants  for  fame  and  fortune  were  crowding  to  where  these 
were  promised  most  speedily. 

The  Yazoo  question  had  created  deep  animosities.  General  Elijah 
Clarke,  and  his  son  John,  subsequently  governor  of  the  State,  were 
charged  with  complicity  in  this  great  fraud.  The  father  had  distin- 
guished himself  in  repelling  the  Indians  in  their  various  forays  upon 
the  frontiers,  and  was  a  representative  man.  With  strong  will  and 
distinguished  courage,  he,  without  much  talent,  was  conspicuous 
among  a  people  who  were,  like  himself,  rude,  unlettered,  but 
daring,  and  abounding  in  strong  common-sense. 

There  was  a  young  man  at  the  same  time,  a  devoted  friend  of 
young  Clarke,  and  follower  of  his  father :  he  was  an  emigrant  from 
one  of  the  Middle  States.  Violent  in  his  character,  and  incautious 
in  the  use  of  language,  he  very  soon  became  offensive  to  his  oppo- 
nents, and  sought  every  opportunity  to  increase  the  bad  feeling  with 
which  he  was  regarded.  Siding  with  the  Yazoo  Company,  he  soon 
made  himself  odious  to  their  enemies.  The  parties  of  Republicans 
and  Federalists  were  bitter  toward  each  other,  and  feuds  were  lead- 
ing to  fights,  and  some  of  these  of  most  deadly  character.  The 


40  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

conflicts  with  the  Indians  had  kept  alive  the  warlike  spirit  which  the 
partisan  warfare  of  the  Revolution  had  cultivated  at  the  S 
no  virtue  was  so  especially  regarded  by  these  people  as  that  of  per 
sonal  courage.  The  consequence  was  that  no  man,  whatever  his 
deportment  or  qualifications,  could  long  fill  the  public  eye  without 
distinguishing  himself  for  the  possession  of  personal  bravery. 

The  Clarkes  were  the  undisputed  leaders  of  public  opinion  in  the  up- 
country,  until  Crawford  came,  and,  by  his  great  abilities  and  remark- 
able frankness  of  manner,  won  away  to  his  support,  and  to  the  support 
of  his  opinions,  a  large  majority  of  the  people.  This  was  not  to  be 
borne;  and  young  Van  Allen  was  willingly  thrust  forward  to  test  the 
courage  of  Crawford.  Duelling  was  the  honorable  method  of  settling 
all  difficulties  between  gentlemen,  and  Crawford  was  to  be  forced 
into  a  duel.  If  he  refused  to  fight,  he  was  ruined.  This,  however, 
he  did  not  do ;  and  Van  Allen  was  slain  in  the  affair. 

This  but  whetted  the  rage  of  the  Clarkes,-  and  John  Clarke  was  not 
long  in  finding  an  excuse  to  call  to  the  field  his  hated  foe.  In  this 
duel  Crawford  was  shot  through  the  left  wrist,  which  partially  dis- 
abled that  arm  for  life.  But  this  did  not  heal  the  animosity ;  its 
rancor  became  contagious,  and  involved  the  people  of  the  State 
almost  to  a  man  ;  nor  did  it  end  until  both  Clarke  and  Crawford 
were  in  the  grave. 

The  history  and  consequences  of  this  feud,  and  the  two  factions 
which  grew  out  of  it,  would  be  the  history  of  Georgia  for  more  than 
forty  years.  Each  had  an  army  of  followers  ;  and  all  the  talent  of 
the  State  was  divided  between  and  leading  these  factions.  There 
were  many  young  men  of  decided  talent  rising  into  distinction  in  the 
professions,  who  were  of  necessity  absorbed  by  these  factions,  and 
whose  whole  subsequent  career  was  tainted  with  the  ignoble  preju- 
dices arising  out  of  this  association.  Among  the  most  prominent 
and  talented  of  these  was  John  Forsyth,  Peter  Early,  George  M. 
Troup,  the  man  sans  peur,  sans  reproche,  Thomas  W.  Cobb,  Stephen 
Upson,  Duncan  G.  Campbell,  the  brother-in-law  of  Clarke,  and 
personally  and  politically  his  friend,  and  who,  from  the  purity  of  his 
character  and  elevated  bearing,  was  respected,  trusted,  and-beloved 
by  all  who  knew  him  ;  Freeman  Walker,  John  M.  Dooly,  Augustus 
Clayton,  Stephen  W.  Harris,  and  Eli  S.  Sherter,  perhaps  mentally 
equal  to  any  son  of  Georgia. 

With  the  exception  of  Upson  and  Troup,  these  were  all  natives  of 


FIFTY     YEARS.  4! 

the  State.  Upson  was  from  Connecticut,  and  was  the  son  of  a 
button-maker  at  Watertown,  in  that  State.  He  was  a  thorough' 
Yankee  in  all  the  qualities  of  perseverance,  making  and  saving 
•  money.  He  was  a  pure  man,  stern  and  talented  ;  and  as  a  lawyer, 
was  scarcely  equalled  in  the  State.  He  and  Cobb  were  students, 
and  prottges  of  Crawford,  and  both  signalized  their  whole  lives  by  a 
devotion,  amounting  almost  to  fanaticism,  to  Mr.  Crawford  and  his 
fortunes. 

George  Michael  Troup  was  born  at  Mclntosh's  Bluff,  on  the  Tom- 
bigbee  River,  in  the  State  of  Alabama.  His  father  was  an  English- 
man, who,  during  the  Revolution,  removed  to  the  place  since  called 
Mclntosh's  Bluff.  Mr.  Crawford  soon  became  prominent  as  a  poli- 
tician, and  adopting  the  party  and  principles  of  Jefferson,  was  trans- 
ferred in  early  life  to  the  councils  of  the  nation.  In  the  United 
States  Senate  he  was  the  compeer  of  Felix  Grundy,  John  C.  Cal- 
houn,  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  Rufus  King,  Daniel  D.  Tompkins, 
William  B.  Giles,  Henry  Clay,  and  many  others  of  less  distinction ; 
»  and  was  the  especial  friend  of  those  remarkable  men,  Nathaniel 
Macon  and  John  Randolph. 

At  this  period,  there  was  an  array  of  talent  in  Congress  never 
equalled  before  or  since.  The  aggressions  of  English  cruisers  upon 
our  commerce,  and  the  impressing  of  our  seamen  into  the  English 
service,  had  aroused  the  whole  nation,  and  especially  the  South ; 
and  the  fiery  talent  of  this  section  was  called  by  the  people,  breath- 
ing war,  into  the  national  councils. 

Crawford  was  in  the  Senate  from  Georgia,  and  was  a  war-man. 
John  Forsyth,  John  C.  Calhoun,  David  R.  Williams,  George  M. 
Troup,  John  Randolph,  Philip  Doddridge,  James  Barbour,  Henry 
Clay,  and  William  Lomax  from  South  Carolina,  were  all  compara- 
tively young  men. 

Lowndes,  Calhoun,  Clay,  and  Troup  were  little  more  than  thirty 
years  of  age,  and  yet  they  became  prominent  leaders  of  their  party, 
exercising  a  controlling  influence  over  the  public  mind,  and  shaping 
the  policy  of  the  Government.  Crawford  was  the  Mentor  of  this 
ardent  band  of  lofty  spirits  —  stimulating  and  checking,  as  occasion 
might  require,  the  energies  and  actions  of  his  young  compeers.  So 
conspicuous  was  he  for  talent,  wisdom,  and  statesmanship,  that  he 
was  proposed  by  the  Republican  party  as  a  proper  person  to  succeed 
Mr.  Madison;  and  nothing  prevented  his  receiving  the  nomination 
4* 


42  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

of  that  party  but  his  refusal  to  oppose  Mr.  Monroe.  His  magna- 
nimity was  his  misfortune.  Had  he  been  nominated,  he  would  have 
been  elected  without  opposition.  The  golden  opportunity  returned 
no  more.  He  had  succeeded  Chancellor  Livingston  as  minister  to 
France,  and  of  these  two,  Napoleon  said  "the  United  States  had 
sent  him  two  plenipotentiaries  —  the  first  was  deaf,  the  latter  dumb." 
Livingston  was  quite  deaf,  and  Crawford  could  not  speak  French. 
At  the  court  of  Versailles,  he  served  faithfully  and  efficiently  the 
interests  of  his  country,  and  returned  with  increased  popularity.  He 
filled,  under  Mr.  Monroe,  the  office  of  Secretary  of  War  for  a  short 
time,  and  then  was  transferred  to  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Treasury. 

In  the  Cabinet  of  Mr.  Monroe  there  were  three  aspirants  for  the 
Presidency:  Adams,  Crawford,  and  Calhoun.  Between  Crawford 
and  Calhoun  a  feud  arose,  which  was  mainly  the  cause  of  Mr.  Cal- 
houn's  name  being  withdrawn  as  a  candidate,  and  the  substitution 
of  that  of  General  Jackson.  Crawford  was  one  of  the  three  highest 
returned  to  the  House,  and  from  whom  a  choice  was  to  be  made. 

Some  twelve  months  anterior  to  the  election  he  was  stricken  with 
paralysis;  and  both  body  and  mind  so  much  affected  that  his  friends 
felt  that  it  would  be  improper  to  elect  him.  Nevertheless  he  con- 
tinued a  candidate  until  Mr.  Adams  was  chosen. 

Mr.  Clay  had  been  voted  for  as  a  fourth  candidate,  but  not  re- 
ceiving electoral  votes  enough,  failed  to  be  returned  to  the  House. 
Being  at  the  time  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  it  was 
supposed  he  held  the  control  of  the  Western  vote ;  and  consequently 
the  power  to  elect  whom  he  pleased.  Mr.  Clay  was  a  great  admirer 
of  Mr.  Crawford,  though  their  intimacy  had  been  somewhat  inter- 
rupted by  a  personal  difficulty  between  Mr.  Randolph  and  Mr.  Clay. 
Mr.  Randolph  being  an  especial  friend  and  constant  visitor  at  Mr. 
Crawford's,  it  would  have  been  unpleasant  to  both  parties  to  meet 
at  his  house. 

Only  a  few  years  anterior  to  Mr.  Clay's  death,  and  when  he  was 
visiting  New  Orleans,  the  writer  had  frequent  interviews  with  him, 
and  learned  that  he  preferred  Mr.  Crawford  to  either  Adams  or 
Jackson ;  and  was  only  prevented  voting  for  him  by  the  prostration 
and  hopeless  condition  of  his  health. 

The  political  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  from  the  West  knew  of  this 
preference,  and  would  have  acted  with  him,  only  upon  condition 
that  Mr.  Crawford  should  make  him  a  member  of  his  Cabinet. 


FIFTYYEARS.  43 

This  was  communicated  to  Mr.  Clay,  who  assigned  his  reasons  for 
declining  to  vote  for  Mr.  Crawford,  and  avowed  his  intention  of 
giving  his  vote  for  Mr.  Adams.  Upon  this  announcement,  it  was 
urged  upon  Mr.  Clay  that  Mr.  Adams  was  uncommitted  upon  the 
policy  which  he  had  inaugurated  as  the  American  System  ;  that  he 
stood  pledged  to  the  country  for  its  success ;  and  that,  without  some 
pledge  from  Mr.  Adams  upon  this  point,  he  would  be  hazarding  too 
much  to  give  him  his  support  —  for  this  would  certainly  make  him 
President.  Mr.  Clay's  reply  was : 

"I  shall,  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  give  my  vote  for  Mr.  Adams: 
Mr.  Crawford's  health  puts  him  out  of  the  question,  and  we  are  com- 
pelled to  choose  between  Adams  and  Jackson.  My  opinion  with 
regard  to  General  Jackson  is  before  the  nation,  it  remains  unaltered. 
I  can  never  give  a  vote  for  any  man  for  so  responsible  a  position 
whose  only  claim  is  military  fame.  Jackson's  violent  temper  and 
unscrupulous  character,  independent  of  his  want  of  experience  in 
statesmanship,  would  prevent  my  voting  for  him.  I  shall  exact  no 
pledge  from  Mr.  Adams,  but  shall  vote  for  him,  and  hold  myself  at 
liberty  to  support  or  oppose  his  administration,  as  it  shall  meet  my 
approval  or  disapproval." 

Mr.  Adams  was  elected ;  and  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  insisted  that 
he  should  accept  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State  in  the  new  Cabinet, 
which  was  tendered  him  by  Mr.  Adams.  Mr.  Clay  thought  it  indeli- 
cate to  do  so.  Whether  true  or  not,  the  nation  awarded  to  him  the 
making  of  Mr.  Adams  President. 

General  Jackson  had  received  a  larger  vote  in  the  electoral  colleges 
than  Adams,  and  his  friends  urged  this  as  a  reason  that  he  was  more 
acceptable  to  the  nation,  and  the  voting  for  Adams  on  the  part  of 
Clay  and  his  friends  was  a  palpable  disregard  of  the  popular  will ; 
and  that  Clay  had  violated  all  his  antecedents,  and  had  thus  deserted 
the  principles  of  the  Republican  party. 

The  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford  were  silent  until  the  organization  of 
the  new  Cabinet.  There  had  been  a  breach  of  amicable  relations 
between  Crawford  and  Jackson  for  some  years,  and  of  consequence 
between  their  party  friends ;  and  it  was  supposed  from  this  cause 
that  Mr.  Crawford  would  unite  in  the  support  of  the  Administration ; 
and  when  it  was  known  that  Clay  had  accepted  the  premiership,  this 
was  deemed  certain,  from  the  friendship  long  existing  between  Clay 
and  himself.  The  terrible  paralysis  which  had  prostrated  Mr.  Craw 


44  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

ford  extended  to  his  mind,  and  he  had  ceased  to  hold  the  influence 
with  his  friends  as  controller,  and  had  become  the  instrument  in 
their  hands. 

General  Jackson  received  a  hint  that  it  would  be  well  to  have 
healed  the  breach  between  himself  and  Crawford.  This  it  was  sup- 
posed came  from  Forsyth,  and  it  is  further  believed  this  was  prompted 
by  Van  Buren.  It  may  or  may  not  have  been  so :  Mr.  Jackson's  acute- 
ness  rarely  required  hints  from  any  one  to  stimulate  or  prompt  to 
action  its  suggestions.  All  Washington  City  was  astounded,  one  Sunday 
morning,  at  seeing  the  carriage  of  Jackson  pull  up  at  the  residence  of 
Mr.  Crawford ;  for  their  quarrel  was  known  to  every  one,  and  it  was 
heralded  through  the  newspapers  that  a  reconciliation  had  taken 
place  between  these  great  men.  The  interview  was  a  protracted  one : 
what  occurred  can  only  be  known  by  subsequent  developments  in 
the  political  world. 

Van  Buren  had  supported  Crawford  to  the  last  extremity,  and  was 
greatly  respected  by  him.  His  intense  acuteness  scented  the  prey 
afar  off.  Mr.  Calhoun  had  been  elected  by  the  electoral  colleges 
Vice-President,  and  this  position,  it  was  thought,  notwithstanding  his 
devotion  to  Jackson,  would  identify  him  with  the  Administration.  He 
was  young,  talented,  extremely  popular,  ambitious,  and  aspiring, 
and  it  was  the  opinion  of  all  that  he  would  urge  his  claims  to  the 
succession. 

The  indignation  which  burst  from  the  Southern  and  Middle  States, 
and  from  many  of  the  Western,  at  Mr.  Clay's  course,  and  the  great 
unpopularity  of  the  name  of  Adams,  was  an  assurance  that  without 
great  changes  in  public  opinion  Mr.  Adams'  administration  would  be 
confined  to  one  term.  Mr.  Crawford  was  out  of  the  question  for 
all  time,  and  it  was  apparent  the  contest  was  to  be  between  Calhoun, 
Clay,  and  Jackson. 

They  had  all  belonged  to  the  Jeffersonian  school  of  politics  — 
had  grown  upon  the  nation's  confidence  rapidly  through  their  support 
of  and  conducting  the  war  to  its  glorious  termination.  But  this 
paity  was  now  completely  disrupted;  and  from  its  elements  new 
parties  were  to  be  formed.  It  only  survived  the  dissolution  of  the 
Federal  party  a  short  time,  and,  for  the  want  of  opposition  from 
without,  discord  and  dissolution  had  followed.  The  political  world 
was  completely  chaotic  — new  interests  had  arisen.  The  war  had 
forced  New  England  to  manufacturing ;  it  had  established  the  policy 


FIFTYYEARS.  45 

of  home  production,  and  home  protection ;  the  agricultural  interest 
of  the  West  was  connected  with  the  manufacturing  interest  of  the 
North,  and  was  to  be  her  consumer  ;  but  the  planting  interest  of  the 
South  was  deemed  antagonistic  to  them.  Her  great  staple,  forming 
almost  the  sole  basis  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  country, 
demanded,  if  not  free  trade,  an  exceedingly  liberal  policy  toward 
those  abroad  who  were  her  purchasers. 

The  war  had  given  a  new  impetus  to  trade,  new  channels  had  been 
opened,  the  manufacture  of  cotton  in  England  had  become  a  source 
of  wealth  to  the  nation,  and  was  rapidly  increasing.  America  was 
her  source  of  supply,  and  was  the  great  consumer  of  her  fabrics, 
and  this  fact  was  stimulating  the  growth  of  cotton  into  an  activity 
which  indicated  its  becoming  the  leading  interest  of  the  South,  if 
not  of  the  nation.  The  course  of  trade  made  it  the  great  competitor 
of  home  manufactures :  this  would  seem  unnatural,  but  it  was  true  — 
the  one  demanding  protection,  the  other  free  trade.  The  source 
of  supply  of  the  raw  material  to  both  was  the  same,  and  America 
the  great  consumer  for  both.  Protection  secured  the  home  market 
to  the  home  manufacturer,  compelling  the  consumer  to  pay  more, 
and  sell  for  less,  by  excluding  the  foreign  manufacturer  from  the 
market,  or  imposing  such  burdens,  by  way  of  duties,  as  to  compel 
him  to  sell  at  higher  prices  than  would  be  a  just  profit  on  his  labor 
and  skill  under  the  operation  of  free  trade,  and  which  should  exempt 
from  his  competition  the  home  manufacturer  in  the  American  market. 

All  these  facts  were  within  the  purview  of  the  sagacious  politicians 
of  the  day ;  and  were  evidently  the  elements  of  new  parties.  Mr. 
Clay  had  already  given  shape  to  his  future  policy,  and  had  identified 
the  new  Administration  with  it.  It  was  certain  the  South  with  great 
unanimity  would  be  in  opposition,  and  the  sagacity  of  Van  Burcn 
discovered  the  necessity  of  uniting  the  friends  of  Jackson  and  Craw- 
ford. Should  he,  after  feeling  the  political  pulse  of  his  own  people, 
conclude  to  unite  with  the  opposition,  such  a  union  would  destroy 
Mr.  Clay  in  the  South,  but  might  greatly  strengthen  Mr.  Calhoun ; 
his  destruction,  however,  must  be  left  to  the  future.  He  was  not  long 
in  determining.  The  reconciliation  of  Crawford  and  Jackson  made 
the  union  of  their  friends  no  very  difficult  matter.  Mr.  Randolph, 
Mr.  Macon,  Mr.  Forsyth,  and  Mr.  Cobb  had  expressed  themselves 
greatly  gratified  at  this  restoration  of  amity ;  and  at  an  informal  meet- 
ing of  their  friends,  Randolph  said,  in  allusion  to  this  adjustment : 


46  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

"I  have  no  longer  a  fear  that  the  seat  first  graced  by  Virginia's 
chosen  sons  will  ever  be  disgraced  by  a  renegade  child  of  hers." 

Soon  after  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  the  adjournment 
of  Congress,  the  nation  was  startled  with  the  charge  of  corruption 
in  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams.  At  first  this  was  vague  nimor.  Mr. 
Clay  was  charged  by  the  press  throughout  the  country  with  bargain- 
ing with  the  friends  of  Adams,  to  cast  his  vote,  and  carry  his 
influence  to  his  support,  upon  the  condition  of  his  (Clay's)  appoint- 
ment to  the  premiership  in  the  Administration,  should  Adams  be 
elected. 

There  was  no  responsible  name  for  this  charge  ;  but  at  the  ensuing 
session  of  Congress,  a  member  from  Pennsylvania,  George  Creemer, 
uttered  from  his  seat  the  charge  in  direct  terms.  This  seemed  to 
give  assurance  of  the  truth  of  this  damaging  accusation.  There  was 
no  public  denial  from  Mr.  Clay.  The  press  in  his  support  had 
from  the  first  treated  the  story  as  too  ridiculous  to  be  noticed  other 
than  by  a  flat  denial ;  but  the  circumstances  were  sufficiently  plausible 
to  predicate  such  a  slander,  and  the  effect  upon  Mr.  Clay  was 
beginning  to  be  felt  seriously  by  his  friends.  In  the  mean  time, 
rumors  reached  the  popular  ear  that  the  proofs  of  its  veracity  were 
in  the  hands  of  General  Jackson,  whose  popularity  was  ninning 
through  the  country  with  the  warmth  and  rapidity  of  a  fire  upon  the 
prairies. 

There  was  now  a  responsible  sponsor,  and  Mr.  Clay  at  once 
addressed  a  note  to  Creemer,  demanding  his  authority  for  the  charge. 
This  was  answered,  and  General  Jackson's  was  the  name  given  as 
his  authority.  Mr.  Clay  sent  his  friend,  General  Leslie  Combs, 
with  a  note  to  Jackson,  with  a  copy  of  Creemer's  communication. 
Combs  was  a  weak,  vain  man,  and  so  full  of  the  importance  of  his 
mission  that  he  made  no  secret  of  his  object  in  visiting  Jackson  at 
the  Hermitage ;  and  it  was  soon  running  through  the  country  in  the 
party  press,  each  retailing  the  story  as  he  had  heard  it,  or  as  his 
imagination  and  party  bias  desired  it.  It  was  soon  current  that  Mr. 
Clay  had  challenged  General  Jackson,  and  a  duel  was  soon  to  occur 
between  these  distinguished  men.  General  Jackson,  however,  gave 
as  his  author,  James  Buchanan,  of  Pennsylvania.  In  turn,  Mr. 
Buchanan  was  called  upon  by  Clay,  but  he  denied  ever  having  made 
any  such  communication  to  General  Jackson ;  at  the  same  time, 
making  certain  statements  under  the  seal  of  secrecy  to  Mr.  Letcher, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  47 

Clay's  friend.  What  these  revelations  were  will  never  be  known: 
death  has  set  his  seal  on  all  who  knew  them  ;  and  no  revelation 
disclosed  them  in  time.  Long  after  this  interview  between  Letcher 
and  Buchanan,  the  former  called  on  the  latter,  and  asked  to  be 
relieved  from  this  imputation,  and  for  permission  to  give  to  the 
public  these  statements ;  but  Mr.  Buchanan  peremptorily  refused. 
Mr.  Letcher  insisted  that  they  were  important  to  the  reputation  of 
more  than  Mr.  Clay :  still  Buchanan  refused  ;  and  to  this  day  the 
question  of  veracity  remains  unsettled  between  Jackson  and  Bu- 
chanan. The  public  have,  however,  long  since  declared  that  General 
Jackson  was  too  brave  a  man  to  lie. 

Toward  the  close  of  Mr.  Clay's  life,  one  Carter  Beverly,  of  Vir- 
ginia, wrote  Mr.  Clay  some  account  of  the  part  he  himself  had 
taken  in  the  concoction  of  this  slander,  craving  his  forgiveness. 
This  letter  was  received  by  Mr.  Clay  while  a  visitor  at  the  home  of 
the  writer,  and  read  to  him  :  it  dissipated  all  doubts  upon  the  mind 
of  Mr.  Clay,  if  any  remained,  of  the  fact  of  the  whole  story  being 
the  concoction  of  Buchanan.  Creemer  was  a  colleague  of  Buchanan, 
and  was  a  credulous  Pennsylvanian,  of  Dutch  descent ;  honest  enough, 
but  without  brains,  and  only  too  willing  to  be  the  instrument  of  his 
colleague  in  any  dirty  work  which  would  subserve  his  purposes. 

Beverly  was  one  of  those  silly  but  presumptuous  personages  who 
thrust  themselves  upon  the  society  of  men  occupying  high  positions, 
and  feel  their  importance  only  in  that  reflected  by  this  association ; 
and  ever  too  fond  of  being  made  the  medium  of  slanderous  reports, 
reflecting  upon  those  whose  self-respect  and  superior  dignity  has 
frowned  them  from  their  presence.  Creemer  died  without  divulg- 
ing anything;  probably  under  the  influence  of  Buchanan,  and  it  is 
not  improbable  he  was  in  ignorance  of  the  origin  of  the  slander. 
Beverly  knew  of  its  utter  falsity,  and  was  as  guilty  as  the  originator, 
and  his  conscience  smote  him  too  sorely  to  permit  him  to  go  to  the 
grave  without  atonement,  and  consequently  he  made  a  clean  breast 
of  it  to  Mr.  Clay. 

Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Buchanan  entered  public  life  about  the  same 
time,  when  they  were  both  young  and  full  of  zeal.  They  belonged 
to  the  same  political  party,  and  became  warmly  attached.  They 
were,  however,  men  of  very  different  temperaments.  The  profes- 
sions of  Mr.  Clay  were  always  sincere,  his  love  of  truth  was  a  most 
prominent  feature  in  his  nature,  and  his  attachments  were  never  dis- 


48  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

simulations :  to  no  other  person  of  his  early  political  friends  was  he 
more  sincerely  attached  than  to  Buchanan  —  he  was  his  confidential 
friend  ;  he  was  never  on  any  subject  reserved  to  him ;  and  so  deep 
was  this  feeling  with  him  that  he  had  called  a  son  after  his  friend 
the  late  James  Buchanan  Clay.  When  he  learned  that  all  his  con- 
fidences had  been  misplaced,  and  that  the  man  whom  he  so  loved 
had  sought  to  rob  him  of  his  good  name,  he  was  wounded  to  the 
heart.  He  struggled  to  believe  Buchanan  was  wronged  by  General 
Jackson  ;  but  one  fact  after  another  was  developed  —  he  could  not 
doubt  —  all  pointing  the  same  way;  and  finally  came  this  letter  of 
Beverly's,  when  he  was  old,  and  when  his  heart  was  crushed  by  the 
loss  of  his  son  Henry  at  Buena  Vista,  of  which  event  he  had  only 
heard  the  day  before :  he  doubted  no  more.  I  shall  ever  remem- 
ber the  expression  of  that  noble  countenance  as,  turning  to  me,  he 
said:  "Read  that!"  Rising  from  his  seat,  he  went  to  the  gar- 
den, where,  under  a  large  live-oak,  I  found  him  an  hour  after, 
deeply  depressed.  It  was  sorrow,  not  anger,  that  weighed  upon  him. 
In  reply  to  a  remark  from  me,  he  said : 

"  How  few  men  have  I  found  true  under  all  trials  !  Who  has  a 
friend  on  whom  he  can  rely,  and  who  will  not,  to  gratify  his  own 
ambition,  sacrifice  him  ?  I  was  deeply  attached  to  Buchanan ;  I 
thought  him  my  friend,  and  trusted  him  as  such — through  long  years 
our  intimacy  continued.  You  see  how  unwisely  this  attachment  was 
indulged ;  I  have  misplaced  my  confidence ;  I  am  willing  to  dis- 
believe this  statement  of  Beverly ;  he  is  known  to  you ;  I  believe  he 
is  a  miserable  creature,  but  his  testimony  is  but  a  link  in  the  chain 
of  evidences  I  have  of  Buchanan's  being  the  author  of  this  infamous 
story.  It  was  artfully  concocted  and  maliciously  circulated.  He 
was  too  shrewd  to  commit  himself,  and  employed  this  creature  to  go 
to  Jackson,  who  lent  a  willing  ear  to  it ;  and  he  communicated  it  to 
Creemer.  Yet  it  was  settled  upon  him  by  Jackson.  Beverly  told 
Jackson  he  was  sent  by  Buchanan,  and  now  the  world  has  the  story 
denied  by  Buchanan,  and  I  have  it  confessed  by  Beverly.  All  the 
mischief  it  could  do,  it  has  done ;  and  this  death-bed  repentance 
and  confession  must  command  my  forgiveness  of  poor  old  Beverly. 

"  I  was  not  unaware  of  the  hazards  of  accepting  office  under  Mr. 
Adams,  and  yielded  my  judgment  to  gratify  my  friends.  I  was 
deeply  solicitous  of  rendering  the  country  independent :  our  popu- 
lation was  increasing ;  I  was  sure  large  immigration  would  add  to 


FIFTYYEARS.  49 

the  natural  increase ;  and  I  felt  it  was  the  true  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  commence  the  manufacture  of  all  articles  necessary  to  its 
population,  and  especially  the  articles  of  prime  necessity,  iron  and 
clothing.  We  had  the  minerals,  the  coal,  and  the  cotton ;  and  the 
sad  experience  of  the  recent  war  warned  us  to  prepare  against  the 
same  consequences  should  we  unfortunately  be  again  in  a  similar 
condition.  I  was  satisfied  that  this  policy  would  meet  powerful 
opposition  by  those  who  supposed  their  interests  affected  by  protec- 
tion ;  and  I  knew,  to  build  up  the  manufactures  at  home,  they  must 
be  protected  against  foreign  competition  —  at  least  for  a  time.  Once 
capital  was  abundant  and  largely  invested  in  manufacturing,  with 
an  abundance  of  educated  skillr  this  protection  could  be  withdrawn; 
as  home  protection  would  not  prevent  home  competition,  and  high 
prices  would  stimulate  this  competition  to  the  point  of  producing 
more  than  was  necessary  for  home  consumption ;  which  would  force 
the  manufacturer  to  find  a  market  abroad  for  his  surplus ;  this  would 
bring  him  into  competition  with  the  European  manufacturer,  and  he 
would  be  compelled  to  be  content  with  the  prices  he  could  obtain 
under  this  competition  ;  this  would  necessarily,  by  degrees,  reduce 
prices  at  home,  and  finally  obviate  the  necessity  of  protection. 
Already  this  has  come  to  pass.  The  good  of  the  country  I  thought 
demanded  this ;  and  for  this  I  exerted  all  my  powers  and  all  my 
influence  ;  never  for  a  moment  doubting  but  that  in  time  and  from 
results  the  whole  people  would  approve  the  policy.  Nor  did  I  ever 
anticipate  any  political  result  to  my  own  interest.  I  have  never  thought 
of  self,  in  any  great  measure  of  policy  I  may  have  advocated.  I 
have  looked  to  final  results  in  benefits  to  the  country  alone,  with  a 
hope  that  my  name  should  not  be  a  disgrace  to  my  children,  who 
should  witness  the  working  and  the  effect  of  measures  connected 
with  my  public  life.  With  an  honest  purpose,  I  feared  no  conse- 
quences; and  desiring,  above  temporary  popularity,  the  good  of 
the  country,  I  assumed  all  the  hazards  and  consequences  which  my 
enemies  could  torture  out  of  the  act  of  accepting  office  under  Mr. 
Adams.  I  have  never  regretted  it,  and  have  lived  to  see  the  slan- 
derers of  my  fame  rebuked  by  the  whole  country. 

"This  terrible  Mexican  war  now  raging,  I  fear,  is  to  result  in 
consequences  disastrous  to  our  Government.     That  we  shall  drive 
Mexico  to  the  wall  there  cannot  be  a  doubt.     We  will  avail  our- 
selves of  the  conqueror's  right  in  demanding  indemnity  for  the 
5  D 


tjo  THEMEMORIESOF 

expenses  of  the  war.  She  has  nothing  to  pay  with,  but  territory. 
We  shall  dispossess  her  of  at  least  a  third,  perhaps  the  half  of  her 
domain ;  this  will  open  the  question  of  slavery  again,  and  how  it  is 
to  be  settled  God  only  knows.  For  myself,  I  see  no  peaceful  solu- 
tion of  the  question.  The  North  and  the  South  are  equally  fanatical 
upon  the  subject,  and  the  difficulties  of  adjustment  augmenting 
every  day.  You  will  agree  with  me  that  the  institution  violates  the 
sentiment  of  the  civilized  world.  It  is  unnatural,  and  must  yield  to 
the  united  hostility  of  the  world.  But  what  is  to  be  done  with  the 
negro?  You  cannot  make  a  citizen  of  him,  and  clothe  him  with 
political  power.  This  would  lead  rapidly  to  a  war  of  races ;  and 
of  consequence  to  the  extinction  of  the  negro.  He  will  not  labor 
without  compulsion ;  and  very  soon  the  country  would  be  filled  with 
brigands ;  the  penitentiaries  would  not  hold  the  convicts ;  and  the 
public  security  would  ultimately  demand  that  they  should  be  sent 
from  the  country. 

"To  remove  such  a  number,  even  to  the  West  Indies,  would  involve 
an  expense  beyond  the  resources  of  the  Government;  to  force  them 
into  Mexico  would  make  her  a  more  dangerous  and  disagreeable 
neighbor  than  she  is ;  besides,  this  would  only  be  postponing  the 
evil,  for  I  apprehend  we  shall  want  to  annex  all  of  Mexico  before 
many  years.  As  I  remarked,  I  can  see  no  peaceful  solution  of  this 
great  social  evil ;  but  fear  it  is  fraught  with  fatal  consequences  to 
our  Government." 

John  Randolph,  soon  after  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams,  was  sent 
to  the  United  States  Senate  by  Virginia.  His  enmity  to  Mr.  Clay 
had  received  a  new  whetting  through  the  events  of  the  year  or  two 
just  past ;  and  the  natural  acerbity  of  his  nature  was  soured  into 
bitter  malignity.  He  believed  every  word  of  the  story  of  Creemer, 
and  harped  upon  it  with  the  pertinacity  of  the  Venetian  upon  the 
daughter  of  Shylock.  He  was  scarcely  ever  upon  the  floor  that 
some  offensive  allusion  was  not  made  to  this  subject.  It  was  imma- 
terial to  him  what  the  subject-matter  was  under  discussion :  he  found 
a  means  to  have  a  throw  at  the  Administration,  and  of  consequence, 
at  Clay ;  and  bargain  and  corruption  slid  from  his  tongue  with  the 
concentration  of  venom  of  the  rattlesnake.  The  very  thought  of 
Clay  seemed  to  inspire  his  genius  for  vituperation ;  his  eye  would 
gleam,  his  meagre  and  attenuated  form  would  writhe  and  contort 
as  if  under  the  enchantment  of  a  demon ;  his  long,  bony  fingers 


FIFTY    YEARS.  5! 

would  be  extended,  as  if  pointing  at  an  imaginary  Clay,  air-drawn 
as  the  dagger  of  Macbeth,  as  he  would  writhe  the  muscles  of  his 
beardless,  sallow,  and  wrinkled  face,  pouring  out  the  gall  of  his  soul 
upon  his  hated  enemy.  It  was  in  one  of  these  hallucinations  that 
he  uttered  the  following  morsel  of  bitterness,  in  allusion  to  the 
story  of  bargain  and  corruption :  "  This,  until  now,  unheard-of 
combination  of  the  black-leg  with  the  Puritan ;  this  union  of  Luck 
George  with  Blifell,"  (an  allusion  from  Fielding's  novel  of  "Tom 
Language  could  not  have  been  made  more  offensive. 
But  the  fruitful  imagination  of  Randolph  was  not  exhausted,  and  he 
proceeded  with  denunciation  which  spared  not  the  venerable  mother 
of  Mr.  Clay,  then  living —  denouncing  her  for  bringing  into  the 
world  "this  being,  so  brilliant,  yet  so  corrupt,  which,  like  a  rotten 
mackerel  by  moonlight,  shined  and  stunk." 

This  drew  from  Mr.  Clay  a  challenge,  and  a  meeting  was  the 
consequence.  There  was  no  injury  sustained  by  either  party  in  this 
conflict,  the  full  particulars  of  which  may  be  found  in  Benton's 
"  Thirty  Years  in  the  Senate ; "  and  I  have  Mr.  Clay's  authority  for 
saying  that  this  account  is  strictly  correct. 

In  General  Jackson's  letter  to  Carter  Beverly,  he  states  that 
Buchanan  came  to  him  and  stated  that  the  friends  of  Mr  Adams  had 
made  overtures  to  Mr.  Clay,  to  the  effect  that,  if  Mr.  Clay  would 
with  his  friends  support  Mr.  Adams,  and  he  should  be  elected,  then 
he  would  appoint  Clay  to  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State ;  and 
that  Buchanan  recommended  Jackson  to  intrigue  against  this  intrigue. 

Buchanan  denied  the  statement  in  Mo.  Beverly  wrote  a  letter,  in 
1841,  admitting  the  falsehood  of  a  former  letter  of  his;  and  again, 
another  to  Mr.  Clay,  in  1844  or  1845,  asking  Clay's  forgiveness  for 
the  part  he  had  acted  in  the  matter. 


52  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

CHAPTER  V. 
GEORGIA'S  NOBLE  SONS. 

A  MINISTER  OF  A  DAY — PURITY  OF  ADMINISTRATION  —  THEN  AND  Now— 
WIDOW  TIMBERLAKE  — VAN  BUREN'S  LETTER— AMBRISTER  AND  ARBUTH- 
NOT— OLD  HICKORY  SETTLES  A  DIFFICULTY  — A  CAUSE  OF  THE  LATE  WAR 
—  HONORED  DEAD. 

T  MMEDIATELY  upon  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Adams,  Mr. 
JL  Crawford  left  Washington,  and  returned  home.  His  residence 
was  near  Lexington,  Georgia,  upon  a  small  farm.  It  was  an  unosten- 
tatious home,  but  comfortable,  and  without  pretensions  superior  to 
those  of  his  more  humble  neighbors.  Mr.  Crawford  had  held  many 
positions  in  the  service  of  the  country, -and  had  honestly  and  ably 
discharged  the  duties  of  these  for  the  public  good.  As  a  senator 
in  Congress,  he  won  the  confidence  of  the  nation  by  the  display  of 
great  abilities ;  and  gave  universal  satisfaction  of  the  pure  patriotism 
of  his  heart,  in  all  he  said,  or  did.  He  was  distinguished,  as  minister 
to  France,  for  his  open  candor  and  simplicity  of  manners — so  much 
so,  as  to  cause  Napoleon  to  remark  of  him  "  that  no  Government 
but  a  republic  could  create  or  foster  so  much  truth  and  honest 
simplicity  of  character  as  he  found  in  Mr.  Crawford." 

For  years,  he  had  served  the  nation  as  financial  minister,  and  at  a 
time  when  the  method  of  keeping,  transferring,  and  disbursing  the 
moneys  of  Government  afforded  infinite  opportunities  for  peculation 
—  when  vast  amounts  of  money  arising  from  the  sale  of  the  public 
domain  in  the  West  and  the  South  was  under  his  control,  and  when 
he  had  the  selection  of  the  depositories  of  this,  and  when  these 
deposits  were  of  great  value  to  the  local  or  State  banks,  so  that  they 
would  have  paid  handsomely  for  them ;  yet  this  noble  being  came 
out  of  the  furnace  without  the  smell  of  fire  upon  his  garments. 

There  was  but  one  man  who  ever  imputed  dishonesty  to  him,  or 
selfish  motives  in  any  act.  When  the  claims  of  Mr.  Adams  and 
Mr.  Crawford  for  the  Presidency  were  being  discussed,  and  party 
asperity  sought  to  slay  its  victims,  Ninian  Edwards,  a  senator  of 
Congress  from  Illinois,  charged  Mr.  Crawford  with  impropriety 
of  conduct  in  depositing,  for  selfish  and  dishonest  purposes,  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  53 

public  moneys  arising  from  the  sale  of  lands  in  Illinois,  in  banks 
notoriously  insolvent.  Edwards  had  been  appointed  minister  to 
Mexico,  had  left  the  Senate,  and  had  gone  to  his  home,  preparatory 
to  his  leaving  for  Mexico;  and  from  his  home  made  this  attack 
upon  Mr.  Crawford.  The  son-in-law  of  Edwards,  a  man  named 
Cook,  was  the  representative  in  Congress  from  Illinois,  and,  if  I 
remember  correctly,  was  the  only  representative  who  at  the  time 
reiterated  these  charges  from  his  seat.  Mr.  Crawford  immediately 
demanded  an  investigation  of  his  conduct.  This  was  had,  and  the 
result  was  a  triumphant  acquittal  from  all  blame ;  and  so  damaging 
was  this  investigation  to  Edwards  that  the  President  recalled  the 
commission  of  Edwards  as  minister  to  Mexico,  and  appointed  Joel 
R.  Poinsett,  of  South  Carolina,  in  his  stead.  Edwards  was  at  New 
Orleans  when  the  letter  of  recall  from  the  President  reached  him, 
that  far  on  his  way  to  Mexico :  he  returned  in  disgrace,  and  soon 
faded  from  public  notice  forever.  At  the  time,  it  was  asserted  he 
was  the  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  knowing  that  some  of 
the  banks  in  which  Crawford  had  deposited  the  public  treasure 
had  failed,  he  imagined  complicity  of  a  dishonest  character,  on  the 
part  of  Crawford,  with  the  officers  of  the  banks,  and  expected  to 
injure  him  and  subserve  the  interest  of  Adams.  In  what  contrast 
does  this  transaction  place  the  purity  of  the  Government,  as  then 
administered,  with  its  conduct  of  to-day,  and  how  peerless  were  those 
who  were  trusted  then  with  public  confidence  and  high  places,  in 
comparison  with  the  public  men  who  fill  their  places  now ! 

Georgia  has  given  to  the  nation  two  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  — 
William  H.  Crawford  and  Howell  Cobb;  they  were  citizens  of 
adjoining  counties.  Cobb  was  born  within  a  few  miles  of  Craw- 
ford's grave.  They  were  both  administering  the  office  at  a  time  in 
the  history  of  the  nation  when  she  was  surrounded  with  perils.  The 
one,  when  she  was  just  coming  out  of  a  war  with  the  most  power- 
ful nation  on  earth  ;  the  other,  when  she  was  just  going  into  a  war, 
civil  and  gigantic.  Both  were  afforded  every  opportunity  for  dis- 
honest peculation,  and  both  came  out,  despite  the  allurements  of 
temptation,  with  clean  hands  and  untainted  reputation.  They  were 
reared  and  lived  in  the  atmosphere  of  honesty;  they  sought  the 
inspiration  from  the  hills  and  vales,  blue  skies,  and  clear  pure 
waters  of  Middle  Georgia.  The  surroundings  of  nature  were  pure ; 
the  honest  farmers  and  mechanics,  her  professional  men  and  mer- 
5* 


tj4  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

chants,  were  and  ^are  pure.  It  was  the  home  of  Upson,  Gilmer, 
Thomas  W.  Cobb,  Peter  Early,  Eli  S.  Sherter,  Stephen  Willis 
Harris,  William  Causby  Dawson,  Joseph  Henry  Lumpkin ;  and  now 
is  the  home  of  A.  H.  Stephens,  Ben.  Hill,  Robert  Toombs,  Bishop 
Pierce,  and  his  great  and  glorious  father,  and  in  their  integrity  and 
lofty  manhood  they  imitate  the  mighty  dead  who  sleep  around 
them. 

Glorious  old  State !  though  long  trodden  with  the  tyrant's  foot, 
there  is  a  resurrectionary  spirit  moving  thy  people,  which  will  lift 
thee  again  to  the  high  pinnacle  from  which  thou  wast  thrust,  purified 
and  reinvigorated  for  a  career  of  brighter  glory  than  thou  hast  yet 
known — when  the  men  who  plague  you  now  shall  be  driven  from 
your  State,  and  the  sons  of  your  soil,  in  the  vigor  of  their  souls, 
undefiled  and  untrammelled,  shall  wield  your  destinies. 

Like  a  Roman  of  latter  days,  Mr.  Crawford  retired  from  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country  poorer  than  when  he  entered  it.  There  was 
sweet  seclusion  in  his  retreat,  and  honest  hearts  in  his  humble  neigh- 
bors to  receive  him  with  "  Come  home,  thou  good  and  faithful  ser- 
vant; we  receive  thee,  as  we  gave  thee,  in  thy  greatness  and  thy 
goodness,  undefiled."  He  had  only  partially  recovered  from  his 
paralysis,  though  his  general  health  was  much  improved ;  rest  and 
retirement,  and  release  from  public  duties  and  cares,  served  to  rein- 
vigorate  him  greatly.  His  estate  was  small,  his  family  large,  and 
his  friends,  to  aid  him,  secured  his  election  to  the  bench  of  the  Supe- 
rior Court,  the  duties  of  which  he  continued  to  discharge  until  his 
death.  He  survived  to  see  General  Jackson  elected  President,  to 
whom  he  gave  a  cordial  support.  Mr.  Calhoun  had  been  nomi- 
nated and  elected  Vice-President  with  General  Jackson,  both  with 
overwhelming  majorities.  Crawford  had  carried  all  his  strength  to 
the  support  of  the  ticket,  and  the  friends  of  Crawford  and  Calhoun 
were  found  acting  in  concert,  notwithstanding  the  hostility  yet  unap- 
peased  between  their  chiefs.  It  was  the  union  of  necessity,  not  of 
sympathy  or  affection.  At  this  juncture,  there  was  perhaps  as  cor- 
dial a  hatred  between  the  people  of  South  Carolina  and  those  of 
Georgia,  as  ever  existed  betwen  the  Greek  and  the  Turk. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  it  seemed  now  to  be  settled,  was  to  be  the  successor 
of  General  Jackson.  The  new  parties  were  organized,  and  that 
headed  by  General  Jackson  assumed  the  name  of  Democrat,  and 
now  held  undisputed  control  of  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  States. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  55 

Mr.  Calhoun  had  broken  away  from  the  usage  of  former  Vice-Presi- 
dents, which  was  to  retire,  and  permit  a  president  of  the  Senate 
pro  tern,  to  be  chosen  to  preside  over  the  deliberations  of  that  body. 
He  determined  to  fulfil  the  duties  assigned  by  the  Constitution,  and 
in  person  to  preside.  His  transcendent  abilities  and  great  strength 
of  character. by  this  course  was  constantly  kept  before  the  nation. 
His  manners  and  presence  gave  increased  dignity  and  importance  to 
the  office,  daily  increasing  his  popularity  with  the  Senate  and  the 
nation.  His  position  was  an  enviable  one,  and  was  such  as  seemed 
to  promise  the  power  to  grasp,  at  the  proper  time,  the  goal  of  his 
ambition,  the  Presidency  of  the  republic. 

From  the  commencement  of  General  Jackson's  Administration 
there  was  a  powerful  opposition  organized.  It  consisted  of  the  very 
best  talent  in  the  Senate  and  House.  The  Cabinet  was  a  weak  one. 
Mr.  Van  Buren  was  premier,  or  Secretary  of  State,  with  John  H. 
Eaton,  a  very  ordinary  man,  Secretary  of  War ;  Branch,  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  and  Ingham,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  with  John 
M.  Berrien,  Attorney-General.  Eaton  was  from  Tennessee,  and  was 
an  especial  favorite  of  General  Jackson.  He  had  been  in  the  Senate 
from  Tennessee,  and  had  formed  at  Washington  the  acquaintance 
of  a  celebrated  widow  of  a  purser  in  the  navy,  Mrs.  Timberlake. 
This  woman  had  by  no  means  an  enviable  reputation,  and  had  been 
supposed  the  mistress  of  Eaton,  prior  to  their  marriage.  She  had 
found  her  way  to  the  heart  of  Jackson,  who  assumed  to  be  her  espe- 
cial champion.  The  ladies  of  the  Cabinet  ministers  refused  to 
recognize  her  or  to  interchange  social  civilities  with  her.  This 
enraged  the  President,  and  it  was  made  a  sine  qua  non,  receive  Mrs. 
Eaton,  or  quit  the  Cabinet.  Van  Buren  was  a  widower,  and  did  not 
come  under  the  order.  He  saw  the  storm  coming,  and,  to  avoid 
consequences  of  any  sort,  after  consultation  with  Jackson,  resigned. 
His  letter  of  resignation  is  a  literary  as  well  as  a  political  curiosity. 
General  Jackson,  it  is  said,  handed  it  to  Forsyth,  with  the  remark 
"that  he  could  not  make  head  or  tail  of  it;  and,  by  the  eternal,  Mr. 
Forsyth,  I  do  not  believe  Van  Buren  can  himself."  This  was  the 
forerunner  of  a  general  dismissal  of  the  entire  Cabinet,  save  Eaton, 
who  resigned.  This  rupture  startled  the  whole  nation,  but  nothing 
Jackson  could  do,  seemed  capable  of  affecting  his  growing  popular- 
ity. A  new  Cabinet  was  organized,  and  soon  after  Mr.  Van  Buren 
was  sent  minister  to  England,  and  Eaton  minister  to  Spain. 


56  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

The  opposition  were  in  a  majority  in  the  Senate,  led  on  by  Clay 
and  Webster.  These  were  confronted  by  Forsyth,  Benton,  and 
Wright:  the  wrestle  was  that  of  giants.  The  world,  perhaps,  never 
furnished  a  more  adroit  debater  than  John  Forsyth.  He  was  the 
Ajax  Telemon  of  his  party,  and  was  rapidly  rivalling  the  first  in  the 
estimation  of  that  party.  He  hated  Calhoun,  and  at  times  was  at 
no  pains  to  conceal  it  in  debate.  In  the  warmth  of  debate,  upon 
one  occasion,  he  alluded  in  severe  terms,  to  the  manner  in  which 
Mr.  Crawford  had  been  treated,  during  his  incumbency  as  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  by  a  certain  party  press  in  the  interest  of  Mr.  Cal- 
houn. This  touched  the  Vice-President  on  the  raw :  thus  stung,  he 
turned  and  demanded  if  the  senator  alluded  to  him.  Forsyth's 
manner  was  truly  grand,  as  it  was  intensely  fierce  :  turning  from  the 
Senate  to  the  Vice-President,  he  demanded  with  the  imperiousness 
of  an  emperor:  "By  what  right  does  the  Chair  ask  that  question 
of  me?"  and  paused  as  if  for  a  reply,  with  his  intensely  gleaming 
eye  steadily  fixed  upon  that  of  Calhoun.  The  power  was  with  the 
speaker,  and  the  Chair  was  awed  into  silence.  Slowly  turning  to 
the  Senate,  every  member  of  which  manifested  deep  feeling,  he 
continued,  as  his  person  seemed  to  swell  into  gigantic  proportions, 
and  his  eye  to  sweep  the  entire  chamber,  "Let  the  galled  jade 
wince,  our  withers  are  unwrung,"  and  went  on  with  the  debate. 

The  cause  of  the  animosity  of  Jackson  toward  Crawford  was  a 
report  which  had  reached  Jackson,  that  Crawford,  as  a  member  of 
Mr.  Monroe's  Cabinet,  had  insisted  in  Cabinet  meeting  upon  the 
arrest  of  Jackson  for  a  violation  of  national  law,  in  entering  with- 
out orders,  as  the  commanding  general  of  the  army  of  the  United 
States,  the  territory  of  a  friendly  power,  and  seizing  its  principal 
city  by  military  force.  General  Jackson  had  entered  Florida,  then 
a  dependency  of  Spain,  with  which  power  we  were  in  amity,  and 
seized  Pensacola. 

A  band  of  desperate  men  had  made  a  lodgment  in  Florida, 
headed  by  two  Scotchmen,  Ambrister  and  Arbuthnot.  These  men 
had  acquired  great  influence  with  the  Indians,  and  were  stimulating 
them  to  constant  depredations  upon  the  frontier  people  of  Georgia. 
When  pursued,  they  sought  safety  in  the  territorial  limits  of  Florida. 
Remonstrances  with  the  Government  of  Spain  had  produced  no 
effect.  It  could  not,  or  would  not  expel  them,  or  attempt  any  control 
of  the  Indians;  and  it  became  necessary  to  put  a  stop  to  their  aggres- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  57 

sions.  Jackson  commanded,  and  was  the  very  man  for  such  a  work. 
He  placed  before  the  President  the  difficulties,  but  said  he  could 
and  would  break  up  this  nest  of  freebooters,  if  he  had  authority 
from  the  President  to  enter  the  territory,  and,  if  necessary,  take  pos- 
session of  it.  It  would  be  an  act  of  war  to  authorize  this  course,  he 
knew;  but  he  was  prepared  for  the  responsibility  (he  generally  was.) 
"I  do  not  ask  for  formal  orders:  simply  say  to  me,  'Do  it.'  Tell 
Johnny  Ray  to  say  so  to  me,  and  it  shall  be  done."  Johnny  Ray  was 
a  member  of  Congress  at  that  time  from  East  Tennessee,  and  devoted 
to  Jackson.  This  was  done,  and  the  work  was  accomplished.  The 
two  leaders  were  captured  and  summarily  executed,  claiming  to  be 
British  subjects. 

Mr.  Monroe  in  some  things  was  a  weak  man  ;  he  was  surrounded 
by  a  Cabinet  greatly  superior  to  himself;  he  had  not  counselled  with 
them,  and  he  feared  the  responsibility  he  had  assumed  would  not  be 
sanctioned  or  approved  by  his  constitutional  advisers,  and  he  timidly 
shrank  from  communicating  these  secret  instructions  to  them.  The 
matter  was  brought  before  the  Cabinet,  by  a  remonstrance  from  the 
Spanish  Government,  in  the  person  of  her  representative  at  Wash- 
ington. In  the  discussion  which  arose,  a  motion  was  submitted  to 
arrest  and  court-martial  Jackson.  Calhoun  was  indignant  that  as 
Secretary  of  War  he  had  not  been  consulted.  General  Jackson 
was  sent  for,  and  very  soon  the  matter  was  quieted,  and  Spain  satis- 
fied. 

It  was  in  this  discussion,  or  Cabinet  meeting,  that  Mr.  Crawford 
was  represented  to  General  Jackson  as  moving  his  arrest.  Mr. 
Adams  defended  Jackson  most  strenuously,  and  it  is  not  improbable 
that  the  President  may  have  informed  him,  sub  rosa,  of  what  had 
been  communicated  to  Jackson.  The  intimacy  between  Mr.  Monroe 
and  Mr.  Adams  was  close,  and  it  was  thought  he  preferred  him,  and 
gave  him  more  unreservedly  his  confidence  than  any  of  his  ministers. 

I  believe  it  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1829,  or  1830,  (I  have, 
where  I  write,  no  means  of  reference,  and  will  not  pretend  to  great 
accuracy  in  dates,)  when  Mr.  Crawford  received  a  visit  from  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  and  his  friend,  Mr.  Cambreling,  at  his  home  in  Oglethorpe. 
What  transpired  during  that  visit,  I  do  not  pretend  to  know ;  but 
soon  after,  Mr.  Forsyth  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  James  Hamilton, 
of  New  York,  making  certain  inquiries  with  regard  to  this  move  in 
Mr.  Monroe's  Cabinet.  Mr.  Forsyth  appealed  to  Mr.  Crawford, 


58  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

who  responded,  and  in  detail  revealed  the  proceedings  in  council 
upon  this  matter,  charging,  wkhout  equivocation,  Mr.  Calhoun  as 
being  the  secretary  who  had  moved  the  arrest  and  trial  of  Jackson. 
At  the  time  of  this  development,  General  Jackson  was  absent  from 
Washington,  on  a  visit  to  his  home  in  Tennessee,  and  Mr.  Calhoun 
was  in  South  Carolina.  A  correspondence  ensued  between  the 
President  and  Vice-President  of  the  most  acrimonious  character. 
Mr.  Calhoun  denied  in  toto  the  charge.  Mr.  Crawford  appealed 
to  the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  Adams  and  Crowninshield,  who  sus- 
tained the  truth  of  Mr.  Crawford's  statements,  and  Mr.  Calhoun  clearly 
implicated  himself,  by  accusing  Crawford  of  a  breach  of  honor  in 
disclosing  cabinet  secrets.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  into  the 
minutiae  of  this  affair,  further  than  to  show  the  part  taken  in  it  by 
Mr.  Crawford.  Mr.  Van  Buren  did  not  appear  in  this  imbroglio ; 
he  doubtless  had  his  agency,  as  his  interest,  in  bringing  this  matter  to 
General  Jackson's  knowledge.  Mr.  Calhoun  was  identified  with  the 
popularity  of  Jackson  and  his  party,  and  was  now,  by  common  con- 
sent of  that  party,  the  prominent  man  for  the  presidential  succession. 
Mr.  Van  Buren  had  been  the  Secretary  of  State  of  General  Jackson, 
had  studied  him  well,  and  knew  him  well.  He  knew  also  the  temper 
of  the  Democratic  party :  through  his  agency  the  political  morality 
of  New  York  politicians  had  permeated  the  Democracy  from  one 
end  of  the  country  to  the  other :  the  doctrine  subsequently  enunciated 
by  Mr.  Marcy,  that  "to  the  victors  belonged  the  spoils,"  was  in 
full  operation  throughout  the  nation  as  the  Democratic  practice. 
This  was  the  cement  which  closely  held  the  politician  to  party  fealty. 
Jackson  rewarded  his  friends,  and  punished  his  enemies ;  Jackson 
was  an  omnipotent  power ;  Jackson  was  the  Democratic  party.  To 
secure  his  friendship  was  necessary  to  success  ;  to  incur  his  enmity, 
certain  destruction.  Van  Buren  was  as  artful  as  ambitious  :  he  had 
indoctrinated  Jackson  with  his  own  policy,  by  inducing  him  to  believe 
it  was  his  own ;  and  the  frankness  of  Jackson's  nature  prevented 
his  believing  anything  was  not  what  it  professed  to  be.  It  was  the 
ambition  of  Van  Buren  to  be  President,  and  his  sagacity  taught  him 
the  surest  means  to  effect  this  end  was  to  secure  effectually  and 
beyond  peradventure  the  friendship  and  support  of  Jackson.  Mr. 
Calhoun  was  between  him  and  the  aim  of  his  ambition :  to  thrust  him 
from  Jackson's  confidence  was  to  effect  all  he  desired.  This  was  done ; 
the  breach  was  irreparable.  Van  Buren  was  sent,  in  the  interim  of 


FIFTYYEARS.  59 

the  session  of  Congress,  minister  plenipotentiary  to  the  Court  of 
St.  James. 

Mr.  Clay  had  come  back  into  the  Senate,  and  was  heading  and 
leading  an  opposition,  then  in  the  majority  in  the  Senate  ;  and  the 
nomination  of  Van  Buren  was  rejected.  Jackson,  assured  that  Cal- 
houn  had  deceived  him,  was  bitter  in  his  denunciations  of  him,  and 
Calhoun  was  sympathizing  with  this  opposition.  Jackson  denounced 
Calhonn  as  his  informant  of  Crawford  being  the  Cabinet  minister 
who  had  in  Cabinet  council  moved  his  arrest.  Calhoun  gave  the 
lie  direct  to  the  assertion ;  and  that  Jackson  was  capable  of  lying, 
referred  as  evidence  to  his  statements  relative  to  the  charge  of  bar- 
gain and  intrigue  against  Mr.  Clay.  But  enough  had  been  done  to 
crush  out  the  popularity  and  the  hopes  of  Calhoun,  beyond  the 
limits  of  South  Carolina.  There  never  has  been  so  sudden  and  so 
terrible  a  fall  from  such  a  height  of  any  man  in  this  nation  —  not 
excepting  that  of  Aaron  Burr.  John  C.  Calhoun,  in  talent,  learn- 
ing, and  statesmanship,  was  greatly  superior  to  Jackson,  and  unsur- 
passed by  any  man  of  the  age.  But  the  breath  of  Jackson  was  the 
blight  which  withered  his  laurels,  and  crushed  his  prospects,  and  de- 
stroyed his  usefulness  forever,  in  a  night. 

What  consequences  have  grown  out  of  this  quarrel,  I  leave  for  the 
pen  of  the  historian.  Yet  I  cannot  forbear  the  speculation  that  the 
late  and  most  disastrous  war  was  one,  and  of  consequence  the 
ruin  and  desolation  of  the  South,  and  the  threatened  destruction  of 
the  Government  at  this  time.  The  agitation  which  led  to  these  ter- 
rible consequences,  commenced  with  Mr.  Calhoun  immediately  sub- 
sequent to  these'events.  Does  any  man  suppose,  if  Mr.  Calhoun  had 
succeeded  to  the  Presidency,  that  he  would  have  commenced  or 
continued  this  agitation  ?  For  one,  I  do  not.  The  measure  of  his 
ambition  would  have  been  full :  his  fame  would  have  been  a  chapter 
in  the  history  of  his  country — his  talents  employed  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Government,  the  honor  and  boast  of  her  people,  and 
her  preservation  and  prosperity  the  enduring  monument  of  his  fame 
and  glory.  But,  wron'ged  as  he  believed,  disappointed  as  he  knew, 
he  put  forth  all  his  strength,  and,  Samson-like,  pulled  down  the  pil- 
lars of  her  support;  and,  disunited,  crushed,  and  miserable,  she  is  a 
melancholy  spectacle  to  the  patriot,  and  in  her  desolation  a  monu- 
ment of  disappointed  ambition.  *t 

That  Mr.  Calhoun  anticipated  any  such  results,  I  do  not  believe. 


6o  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

To  suppose  he  desired  them,  and  to  the  end  of  his  life  labored  to 
produce  them,  would  be  to  suppose  him  little  less  than  a  fiend. 
Blinded  by  his  prejudices  and  the  hatred  natural  toward  those  who 
had  accomplished  his  political  ruin,  he  could  not  calmly  and  dis- 
passionately weigh  the  influence  of  his  acts  upon  the  future  of  his 
country. 

Mr.  Crawford  was  now  rapidly  declining,  his  nervous  system  was 
completely  undermined,  and  he  felt  the  approach  of  death  calmly 
and  without  fear.  Still,  he  continued  to  give  his  attention  to  busi- 
ness, and  was  sufficiently  strong  to  go  abroad  to  calls  of  duty.  In 
one  of  these  journeys  he  stopped  to  spend  the  night  in  the  house  of  a 
friend,  and  was  found  dead  in  his  bed  in  the  morning,  after  a  quiet 
and  social  evening  with  his  friend  and  family. 

William  Holt  Crawford  was  a  native  of  Virginia :  his  family  were 
Scotch,  and  came  early  to  the  United  States,  and  have  been  remark- 
able for  their  talents  and  energy.  Since  the  Revolution,  there  has 
scarcely  been  a  time  that  some  one  of  the  family  has  not  been  prom- 
inently before  the  public  as  a  representative  man.  Mr.  Crawford 
was  an  eminent  type  of  his  race,  sternly  honest,  of  ardent  tempera- 
ment, full  of  dignity,  generous,  frank,  and  brave.  Plain  and  simple 
in  his  habits,  disdaining  everything  like  ostentation,  or  foolish  dis- 
play—  strictly  moral,  firm  in  his  friendship,  and  unrelenting  in  his 
hatred,  his  sagacity  and  sincerity  forbade  the  forming  of  the  one 
or  the  other  without  abundant  cause.  He  was  never  known  to  desert 
a  friend  or  shrink  from  a  foe.  In  form  and  person  he  was  very 
imposing ;  six  feet  two  inches  in  height ;  his  head  was  large,  fore- 
head high  and  broad ;  his  eyes  were  blue  and  brilliant,  and,  when 
excited,  very  piercing.  His  complexion  was  fair,  and,  in  early  life, 
ruddy;  he  was,  when  young,  exceedingly  temperate  in  his  habits,  but 
as  he  advanced  in  years  he  indulged  too  freely  in  the  luxuries  of  the 
table,  and  his  physicians  attributed  mainly  to  this  cause  his  attack  of 
paralysis,  which  ultimately  destroyed  him.  His  mind  had  been  very 
much  excited  during  the  Presidential  canvass;  the  attacks  of  his 
enemies  were  fierce  and  merciless,  and  very  irritating  to  him ;  and 
this  doubtless  had  much  to  do  with  it.  He  lies  buried  in  the  garden 
of  his  home,  without  a  stone  to  mark  the  spot.  It  is  a  reproach  to 
the  people  of  Georgia  that  her  most  eminent  son  should  be  neglected 
to  sleep  in  an  undistinguished  grave.  But  this  neglect  does  not 
extend  alone  to  Mr.  Crawford.  I  believe,  of  all  her  distinguished 


FIFTY     YEARS.  6 1 

men,  James  A.  Meriwether  is  the  only  one  whose  grave  has  been 
honored  with  a  monumental  stone  by  the  State.  Crawford,  Cobb, 
Dooly,  Jackson,  Troup,  Forsyth,  Campbell,  Lumpkin,  Dawson, 
Walker,  Colquitt,  Berrien,  Daugherty,  and  many  others  who  have 
done  the  State  some  service  and  much  honor,  are  distinguished  in 
their  graves  only  by  the  green  sod  which  covers  them. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

POPULAR    CHARACTERISTICS. 

A  FRUGAL  PEOPLE — LAWS  AND  RELIGION  —  FATHER  PIERCE — THOMAS  W. 
COBB  —  REQUISITES  OF  A  POLITICAL  CANDIDATE  —  A  FARMER-LAWYER  — 
SOUTHERN  HUMORISTS. 

THE  plain  republican  habits  which  characterized  the  people  of 
Upper  Georgia,  in  her  early  settlement  and  growth,  together 
with  the  fact  of  the  very  moderate  means  of  her  people,  exercised 
a  powerful  influence  in  the  formation  of  the  character  of  her  people. 
She  had  no  large  commercial  city,  and  her  commerce  was  confined 
to  the  simple  disposal  of  the  surplus  products  of  her  soil  and  the 
supply  of  the  few  wants  of  the  people.  It  was  a  cardinal  virtue  to 
provide  every  thing  possible  of  the  absolute  necessaries  of  life  at- 
home.  The  provision  crop  was  of  first  necessity,  and  secured  the 
first  attention  of  the  farmer ;  the  market  crop  was  ever  secondary, 
and  was  only  looked  to,  to  supply  those  necessaries  which  could  not 
be  grown  upon  the  plantation.  These  were  salt,  iron,  and  steel,  first; 
and  then,  if  there  remained  unexhausted  some  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
crop,  a  small  (always  a  small)  supply  of  sugar  and  coffee ;  and  for 
rare  occasions,  a  little  tea. 

The  population,  with  the  exception  of  mechanics,  and  these  were 
a  very  small  proportion,  and  the  few  professional  men  and  country 
merchants,  was  entirely  agricultural.  This  rural  pursuit  confined  at 
home  and  closely  to  business  every  one  ;  and  popular  meetings  were 
confined  to  religious  gatherings  on  Sunday  in  each  neighborhood, 
and  the  meeting  of  a  few  who  could  spare  the  time  at  court,  in  the 
6 


62  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

village  county-seat,  twice  a  year.  There  were  no  places  of  public 
resort  for  dissipation  or  amusement ;  a  stern  morality  was  demanded 
by  public  opinion  of  the  older  members  of  society.  Example  and 
the  switch  enforced  it  with  the  children.  Perhaps  in  no  country  or 
community  was  the  maxim  of  good  old  Solomon  more  universally 
practised  upon,  "Spare  the  rod  and  spoil  the  child,"  than  in  Mid- 
dle Georgia,  fifty  years  ago.  Filial  obedience  and  deference  to  age 
was  the  first  lesson.  "  Honor  thy  father  and  mother,  that  thy  days 
may  be  long  in  the  land,"  was  familiar  to  the  ears  of  every  child 
before  they  could  lisp  their  a,  b,  c;  and  upon  the  first  demonstration 
of  a  refractory  disobedience,  a  severe  punishment  taught  them  that 
the  law  was  absolute  and  inexorable.  To  lie,  or  touch  what  was  not 
his  own,  was  beyond  the  pale  of  pardon,  or  mercy,  and  a  solitary 
aberration  was  a  stain  for  life. 

The  mothers,  clad  in  homespun,  were  chaste  in  thought  and  action ; 
unlettered  and  ignorant,  but  pure  as  ether.  Their  literature  confined 
to  the  Bible,  its  maxims  directed  their  conduct,  and  were  the  daily 
lesson  of  their  children.  The  hard-shell  Baptist  was  the  domi- 
nant religion ;  with  here  and  there  a  Presbyterian  community,  gene- 
rally characterized  by  superior  education  and  intelligence,  with  a 
preacher  of  so  much  learning  as  to  be  an  oracle  throughout  the 
land. 

The  Methodists  were  just  then  beginning  to  grow  into  importance, 
and  their  circuit-riders,  now  fashionably  known  as  itinerants,  were 
passing  and  preaching,  and  establishing  societies  to  mark  their  suc- 
cess, through  all  the  rude  settlements  of  the  State.  These  were 
the  pioneers  of  that  truly  democratic  sect,  as  of  the  stern  morality 
and  upright  bearing  which  had  so  powerful  an  influence  over  the 
then  rising  population. 

It  is  more  than  sixty  years  since  I  first  listened  to  a  Methodist 
sermon.  It  was  preached  by  a  young,  spare  man,  with  sallow  com- 
plexion, and  black  eyes  and  hair.  I  remember  the  gleam  of  his  eye, 
and  the  deep,  startling  tones  of  his  voice  — his  earnest  and  fervent 
manner ;  and  only  yesterday,  in  the  Baronne  Street  (New  Orleans) 
Methodist  Church,  I  listened  to  an  old  man,  upward  of  eighty  years 
of  age,  preaching  the  ordination  sermon  of  four  new  bishops  of  the 
Methodist  Church.  It  was  he  to  whom  I  had  first  listened :  the  eye 
was  still  brilliant,  the  face  still  sallow,  but  wrinkled  now,  and  the 
voice  and  manner  still  fervent  and  earnest;  and  the  great  mind, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  63 

though  not  the  same,  still  powerful.  It  was  that  venerable,  good 
man,  Lovie  Pierce,  the  father  of  the  great  and  eloquent  bishop. 
What  has  he  not  seen  ?  what  changes,  what  trials,  what  triumphs ! 
Generations  before  his  eyes  have  passed  into  eternity ;  the  little 
handful  of  Methodist  communicants  grown  into  a  mighty  and  intel- 
ligent body ;  thousands  of  ministers  are  heralding  her  tenets  all  over 
the  Protestant  world  —  mighty  in  learning,  mighty  in  eloquence  — 
yet  none  surpass  the  eloquence,  the  power,  and  the  purity  of  Lovie 
Pierce. 

When  I  first  heard  him,  Bishop  Asbury,  William  Russell,  and  he 
were  nursing  the  seed  sown  by  John  Wesley  and  George  Whitefield, 
a  little  while  before,  upon  the  soil  of  Georgia.  All  but  Pierce  have 
long  been  gathered  to  their  fathers,  and  have  rest  from  their  labors. 
He  still  remains,  bearing  his  cross  in  triumph,  and  still  preaching  the 
Redeemer  to  the  grandchildren  of  those  who  first  welcomed  him 
and  united  with  him  in  the  good  work  of  his  mission.  How  much 
his  labors  have  done  to  form  and  give  tone  to  the  character  of 
the  people  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  none  may  say ;  but  under  his 
eye  and  aid  has  arisen  a  system  of  female  education,  which  has  and 
is  working  wonders  throughout  the  State.  He  has  seen  the  ignorant 
and  untaught  mothers  rear  up  virtuous,  educated,  and  accomplished 
daughters ;  and,  in  turn,  these  rearing  daughters  and  sons,  an  orna- 
ment and  an  honor  to  parents  and  country.  Above  all,  he  has  seen 
and  sees  a  standard  of  intelligence,  high-breeding,  and  piety  per- 
vading the  entire  State.  The  log-cabin  gives  way  to  the  comfortable 
mansion,  the  broad  fields  usurping  the  forest's  claim,  and  the  beau- 
tiful church-building  pointing  its  taper  spire  up  to  heaven,  where 
stood  the  rude  log-house,  and  where  first  he  preached.  He  has  lived 
on  and  watched  this  growing  moral  and  physical  beauty,  whose 
germs  he  planted,  and  whose  fruits  he  is  now  enjoying  in  the  eighty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age,  still  zealous,  still  ardent  and  eloquent,  and  a 
power  in  the  land.  Should  these  lines  ever  meet  his  eye,  he  will 
know  that  the  child  whose  head  he  stroked  as  he  sat  upon  his  knee 
—  the  youth  whom  he  warned  and  counselled,  loves  him  yet,  now 
that  he  is  wrinkled,  old,  and  gray. 

From  parents  such  as  I  have  described,  and  under  the  teaching  of 
such  men,  grew  up  the  remarkable  men  who  have  shed  such  lustre 
upon  the  State  of  Georgia. 

The  great  distinguishing  feature  of  these  men  was  that  of  the 


64  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

masses  of  her  people  —  stern  honesty.  Many  families  have  been 
and  continue  to  be  remarkable  for  their  superior  talents  and  high 
character ;  preserving  in  a  high  degree  the  prestige  of  names  made 
famous  by  illustrious  ancestry.  The  Crawfords,  the  Cobbs,  and  the 
Lamars  are  perhaps  the  most  remarkable. 

Thomas  W.  Cobb,  so  long  distinguished  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation,  and  as  an  able  and  honest  jurist  in  Georgia,  was  the  son 
of  John  Cobb,  and  grandson  of  Thomas  Cobb,  of  the  County  of 
Columbia,  in  the  State  of  Georgia.  His  grandfather  emigrated 
from  Virginia  at  an  early  day,  when  Georgia  was  comparatively  a 
wilderness,  and  selecting  this  point,  located  with  a  large  family, 
which  through  his  remarkable  energy  he  reared  and  respectably 
educated.  This  was  an  achievement,  as  the  facilities  for  education 
were  so  few  and  difficult  as  to  make  it  next  to  impossible  to  edu- 
cate even  tolerably  the  youth  of  that  day.  This  remarkable  man 
lived  to  see  his  grandson,  Thomas  W.  Cobb,  among  the  most  dis- 
tinguished men  of  the  State.  He  died  at  the  great  age  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  years,  at  the  home  of  his  selection,  in  Columbia 
County,  the  patriarch  pioneer  of  the  country,  surrounded  by  every 
comfort,  and  a  family  honoring  his  name  and  perpetuating  his  vir- 
tues ;  and  after  he  had  seen  the  rude  forest  give  way  to  the  culti- 
vated field,  and  the  almost  as  rude  population  to  the  cultivated  and 
intellectual  people  distinguishing  that  county. 

Thomas  W.  Cobb,  in  his  education,  suffered  the  penalties  imposed 
in  this  particular  by  a  new  country ;  his  opportunities,  however,  were 
improved  to  their  greatest  possible  extent,  and  he  continued  to 
improve  in  learning  to  the  day  of  his  death.  In  boyhood  he 
ploughed  by  day,  and  studied  his  spelling-book  and  arithmetic  by 
night  —  lighting  his  vision  to  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  by  a  pine-knot 
fire.  This  ambition  of  learning,  with  close  application,  soon  dis- 
tinguished him  above  the  youth  of  the  neighborhood,  and  lifted 
his  aspirations  to  an  equal  distinction  among  the  first  men  of  the 
land.  He  made  known  his  wishes  to  his  father,  and  was  laughed  at; 
but  he  was  his  grandfather's  namesake  and  pet,  and  he  encouraged 
his  ambition.  The  consequence  was  that  young  Cobb  was  sent  to 
the  office  of  William  H.  Crawford  at  Lexington,  to  read  law.  He 
applied  himself  diligently,  and  won  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
Mr.  Crawford,  which  he  retained  to  the  day  of  his  death.  When 
admitted  to  the  bar,  he  located  with  his  fellow-student  in  Lexing- 


FIFTYYEARS.  65 

ton ;  thus  taking  the  place  of  Mr.  Crawford,  who  was  now  in  polit- 
ical life.  He  rose  rapidly  in  his  profession,  and  while  yet  a  young 
man  was  sent  to  Congress  as  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  State. 

At  this  time  the  representation  in  Congress  was  chosen  by  general 
ticket.  The  consequence  was  the  selection  of  men  of  superior 
talent  and  character :  none  could  aspire  to  the  high  position  whose 
names  had  not  become  familiar  for  services  to  the  State,  or  for  the 
display  of  talent  and  character  at  the  bar,  or  other  conspicuous  posi- 
tions, their  virtues  and  attainments  distinguishing  them  above  their 
fellow-men  of  the  country.  Throughout  the  State,  to  such  men 
there  was  great  deference,  and  the  instances  were  rare  where  it  was 
not  deserved.  The  discipline  and  trickery  of  party  was  unknown, 
nor  was  it  possible  that  these  could  exist  among  a  people  who,  uni- 
versally, honestly  desired  and  labored  to  be  represented  by  their 
best  men.  To  attain  to  the  high  position  of  senator  or  representa- 
tive in  Congress  was  so  distinguishing  a  mark  of  merit,  that  it  oper- 
ated powerfully  upon  the  ambitious  young  men  of  the  State,  all  of 
whom  struggled  to  attain  it  by  laboring  to  deserve  it. 

The  standard  of  talent  established  by  Crawford,  Jackson,  and 
Baldwin  was  so  high,  that  to  have  public  opinion  institute  a  com- 
parison between  these  and  an  aspirant  was  a  sure  passport  to  public 
favor;  and  this  comparison  was  in  no  instance  so  likely  to  be  made  as 
between  him  and  the  pupils  of  his  teaching.  This  fact  in  relation  to 
Jackson  and  Crawford  is  remembered  well  by  the  writer. 

In  the  low  country  of  Georgia,  the  fiat  of  James  Jackson  fixed 
the  political  fate  of  every  young  aspirant.  In  the  up-country,  Craw- 
ford was  as  potent.  In  Crawford's  office  the  student  was  required 
to  apply  himself  diligently,  and  give  promise  of  abilities,  or  he  could 
not  remain.  The  writer  remembers  to  have  heard  the  question  asked 
of  Mr.  Crawford,  in  his  later  days,  why  a  family  in  his  own  county, 
distinguished  for  wealth,  had  uniformly  opposed  him  politically.  In 
the  frankness  of  his  nature  he  said :  "Aleck  came,  when  a  young  man, 
to  read  law  in  my  office,  and  though  he  was  diligent  enough,  he  was 
without  the  brain  necessary  to  acquire  a  proper  knowledge  of  the 
law.  I  liked  his  father,  and  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  of  his  relative, 
as  to  Aleck's  capacity,  I  told  him  '  his  son  would  doubtless  succeed 
as  a  farmer,  for  he  was  industrious  ;  but  he  had  not  sense  enough  to 
make  a  lawyer. '  He  thanked  me ;  and  Aleck  left  the  office,  and,  pro- 
fiting by  my  advice,  went  to  the  plough,  and  has  made  a  fortune,  and 
6*  E 


66  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

a  very  respectable  position  for  himself;  but  from  that  day  forward, 
not  a  member  of  the  family  has  ever  been  my  friend.  I  think  I  did 
rny  duty,  and  have  got  along  without  their  friendship." 

Jackson  had  his  proteges,  and  they  were  always  marked  for  talent. 
In  early  life  he  discerned  the  germ  of.  great  abilities  in  two  youths  of 
Savannah  —  George  M.  Troup  and  Thomas  U.  D.  Charlton.  Through 
his  influence,  these  young  men,  almost  as  soon  as  eligible,  were  sent 
to  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  and  both  immediately  took  high  posi- 
tions. Talent  was  not  the  only  requisite  to  win  and  retain  the  favor 
of  Jackson :  the  man  must  be  honest,  and  that  honesty  of  such  a 
•  character  as  placed  him  above  suspicion. 

Under  the  operation  of  the  Confiscation  Act,  many  who  had  favored 
the  mother  country  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle  had  fled  with  their 
property  to  Florida.  Conspicuous  among  these  was  one  Campbell 
Wiley,  a  man  of  fortune.  This  man  applied  to  the  Legislature  to  be 
specially  exempted  from  the  penalties  of  this  act,  and  to  be  per- 
mitted to  return  to  the  State.  A  heated  debate  ensued,  when  the 
bill  was  being  considered,  in  which  Charlton  was  silent,  and  in  which 
•Troup  made  a  violent  speech  in  opposition  to  its  passage,  ending 
with  the  sentence,  "  If  ever  I  find  it  in  my  heart  to  forgive  an  old 
Tory  his  sins,  I  trust  my  God  will  never  forgive  me  mine."  This 
speech  gave  him  an  immediate  popularity  over  the  entire  State. 
Charlton  in  secret  favored  the  bill ;  but  knowing  its  unpopularity 
with  his  constituents,  he  contrived  to  be  called  to  the  chair,  and  was 
forced  to  vote  on  a  material  motion  which  was  favorable  to  the  bill. 
The  wealth  of  Wiley,  and  Charlton's  equivocation,  attached  suspicion 
to  his  motives,  and  brought  down  upon  him  the  wrath  of  Jackson, 
blighting  all  his  future  aspirations.  As  a  member  of  the  bar  he 
attained  eminence,  and  all  his  future  life  was  such  as  to  leave  no 
doubt  of  his  purity,  and  the  cruel  wrong  those  suspicions,  sustained 
by  the  frown  of  Jackson,  had  done  him. 

Thomas  W.  Cobb  was  eminently  social  in  his  nature,  and  frank  to 
a  fault ;  his  opinions  were  never  concealed  of  men  or  measures ;  and 
these  were,  though  apparently  hasty,  the  honest  convictions  of  his 
judgment,  notwithstanding  their  apparent  impulsive  and  hasty  char- 
acter. Like  his  tutor,  Mr.  Crawford,  he  cared  little  for  ceremony 
or  show ;  and  in  every  thing  he  was  the  kernel  without  the  shell : 
his  character  was  marked  before  his  company  in  five  minutes'  con- 
versation,  whether  he  had  ever  met  or  heard  of  them  before ;  and 


FIFTY     YEARS.  6/~ 

in  all  things  else  he  was  equally  without  deceit.  This  openness  to 
some  seemed  rude ;  and  his  enemies  were  of  this  class.  He  expressed 
as  freely  his  opinion  to  the  person  as  to  the  public ;  but  this  was 
always  accompanied  with  a  manner  which  disrobed  it  of  offence. 
But  human  nature  will  not  in  every  individual  excuse  the  words 
because  of  the  manner ;  and  sometimes  this  peculiarity  made  him 
sharp  enemies.  It  will  be  supposed  such  traits  would  have  rendered 
him  unpopular.  At  this  day,  when  social  intercourse  is  less  familiar, 
they  certainly  would  have  done  so ;  but  they  seemed  a  means  of 
great  popularity  to  Cobb,  especially  with  those  who  were  most  inti- 
mate with  him,  as  all  who  met  him  were,  after  an  hour's  acquaint- 
ante.  His  public  life  was  as  his  private,  open  and  sincere ;  he  never 
had  a  sinister  motive,  and  this  relieved  him  from  duplicity  of  con- 
duct His  talents  were  of  a  high  order :  in  debate,  he  was  argu- 
mentative and  explicit ;  never  pretending  to  any  of  the  arts  of  the 
orator;  but  logically  pursued  his  subject  to  a  conclusion;  never  ver- 
bose, but  always  perspicuous.  As  a  lawyer,  he  was  well  read  ;  and 
the  analytical  character  of  his  mind  appeared  to  have  been  formed 
upon  the  model  of  Judge  Blackstone.  Before  the  juries  of  the 
country  he  was  all-powerful.  These,  in  the  main,  were  composed 
of  men  of  very  limited  information  —  and  especially  of  legal  lore. 
But  they  were  generally  men  of  strong  practical  sense,  with  an 
honest  purpose  of  doing  justice  between  man  and  man.  Cobb  with 
these  was  always  sincere;  never  attempting  a  deception,  never  seeking 
to  sway  their  judgments  and  secure  a  verdict  by  appealing  to  their 
passions  or  their  prejudices,  or  by  deceiving  them  as  to  what  the  law 
was.  Toward  a  witness  or  a  party  of  whose  honesty  he  entertained 
doubts,  he  was  sarcastically  severe ;  nor  was  he  choice  in  the  use  of 
terms.  As  a  statesman,  he  was  wise  and  able — and  in  politics,  as  in 
everything  else,  honest  and  patriotic.  In  early  life  he  was  sent  to 
the  House  of  Representatives,  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
and  soon  distinguished  himself  as  a  devoted  Republican  in  politics, 
and  a  warm  supporter  of  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Monroe.  Here 
he  was  reunited  socially  with  Mr.  Crawford  and  family,  and  so  close 
was  this  intimacy  that  he  was  on  all  political  measures  supposed  to 
speak  the  sentiments  of  Mr.  Crawford.  Associated  with  Forsyth, 
Tatnall,  Gilmer,  and  Cuthbert,  all  men  of  superior  abilities,  all 
belonging  to  the  same  political  party,  and  all  warm  supporters  of 
Mr.  Crawford,  he  led  this  galaxy  of  talent  —  a  constellation  in  the 


68  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

political  firmament  unsurpassed  by  the  representation  of  any  other 
State.  Nor  must  I  forget,  in  this  connection,  Joel  Crawford  and 
William  Terrell,  men  of  sterling  worth  and  a  high  order  of  talent. 
Mr.  Cobb  was  a  man  of  active  business  habits,  and  was  very  inde- 
pendent in  his  circumstances :  methodical  and  correct,  he  never  left 
for  to-morrow  the  work  of  to-day. 

He  was  transferred  from  the  House  to  the  Senate,  and  left  it  with 
a  reputation  for  integrity  and  talent  —  the  one  as  brilliant  as  the  other 
unstained  —  which  falls  to  the  lot  of  few  who  are  so  long  in  public 
life  as  he  was.  Unlike  most  politicians  whose  career  has  been  through 
exciting  political  struggles,  the  blight  of  slander  was  never  breathed 
upon  his  name,  and  it  descended  to  his  children,  as  he  received  it 
from  his  ancestry,  without  spot  or  blemish. 

Toward  the  close  of  his  life,  he  was  elected  by  the  Legislature  of 
the  State  to  the  Bench  of  the  Superior  Court,  then  the  highest  judi- 
cial tribunal  of  the  State.  This  was  the  last  public  station  he  filled. 
Here  he  sustained  his  high  character  as  a  lawyer  and  honest  man ; 
carrying  to  the  tomb  the  same  characteristics  of  simplicity  and  sin- 
cerity, of  affability  and  social  familiarity,  which  had  ever  distinguished 
him  in  every  position,  public  or  private.  He  assumed  none  of  that 
mock  dignity  or  ascetic  reserve  in  his  intercourse  with  the  Bar  and 
the  people,  so  characteristic  of  little  minds  in  elevated  positions : 
conscious  of  rectitude  in  all  things,  he  never  feared  this  familiarity 
would  give  cause  for  the  charge  of  improper  bias  in  his  decisions 
from  the  bench  or  his  influence  with  the  jury. 

Mr.  Cobb  died  at  the  age  of  fifty,  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood 
and  usefulness.  In  person,  he  was  a  model  for  a  sculptor — six  feet 
in  height,  straight,  and  admirably  proportioned.  His  head  and  face 
were  Grecian ;  his  forehead  ample ;  his  nose  beautifully  chiselled  ; 
gray  eyes,  with  sparkling,  playful  expression,  round,  and  very  beau- 
tiful ;  his  head  round,  large,  and  admirably  set  on ;  the  expression  of 
his  features,  variant  as  April  weather,  but  always  intellectual,  they 
invited  approach,  and  the  fascination  of  his  conversation  chained  to 
his  presence  all  who  approached  him.  In  fine,  he  was  a  type  in 
manner  and  character  of  the  people  among  whom  he  was  born  and 
reared;  and  I  scarcely  know  if  this  is  the  greater  compliment  to  him 
or  them. 

With  few  exceptions,  this  peculiar  population  of  Middle  Georgia 
has  furnished  all  of  her  distinguished  sons,  and  to  the  traits  which 


FIFTYYEARS.  69 

make  them  remarkable  is  she  to-day  mainly  indebted  for  her  exalted 
prominence  among  her  sister  States  of  the  South.  The  peculiar 
training  of  her  sons,  the  practical  education  and  social  equality 
which  pervades,  and  ever  has,  her  society,  acquaints  every  one  with 
the  wants  of  every  other ;  at  the  same  time  it  affords  the  facility  for 
union  in  any  public  enterprise  which  promises  the  public  good.  All 
alike  are  infused  with  the  same  State  pride,  and  the  equality  of  for- 
tunes prevents  the  obtrusion  of  arrogant  wealth,  demanding  control, 
from  purely  selfish  motives,  in  any  public  measure. 

This  community  of  interests  superinduces  unity  of  feeling,  and 
unity  of  action;  and  the  same  homogeneous  education  secures  a 
healthy  public  opinion,  which,  at  last,  is  the  great  controlling  law 
of  human  action.  Thus  the  soil  is  one,  the  cultivation  is  one,  the 
growth  is  one,  and  the  fruit  is  the  same.  Nowhere  in  the  South 
have  these  been  so  prominent  as  in  Middle  Georgia,  and  no  other 
portion  of  the  South  is  so  distinguished  for  progress,  talent,  and  high 
moral  cultivation.  There  is,  perhaps,  wanting  that  polish  of  manners, 
that  ease  and  grace  of  movement,  and  that  quiet  delicacy  of  sup- 
pressed emotion,  so  peculiar  to  her  citizens  of  the  seaboard,  which 
the  world  calls  refinement ;  which  seems  taught  to  conceal  the  natu- 
ral under  the  artistic,  and  which  so  frequently  refines  away  the  nobler 
and  more  generous  emotions  of  the  heart.  I  doubt,  however,  if  the 
habit  of  open  and  unrestrained  expression  of  the  feelings  of  our 
nature  is  not  a  more  enduring  basis  of  strong  character  and  vigorous 
thought  and  action,  than  the  cold  polish  of  refined  society.  What- 
ever is  most  natural  is  most  enduring.  The  person  unrestrained  by 
dress  grows  into  noble  and  beautiful  proportions;  the  muscles 
uncramped,  develop  not  only  into  beauty,  but  strength  and  health- 
fulness.  So  with  the  mind  untrammelled  by  forms  and  ceremonies ; 
and  so  with  the  soul  unfettered  by  the  superstition  of  vague  and 
ridiculous  dogmas.  The  freedom  of  action  and  familiarity  of  lan- 
guage, where  there  are  few  social  restraints  to  prevent  universal 
intercourse,  familiarizes  every  class  of  the  community  with  the 
peculiarities  of  each,  and  forms  an  outlet  for  the  wit  and  humor  of 
the  whole.  This  was  the  stimulant  to  mirth  and  hilarity,  for  which 
no  people  are  so  much  distinguished  as  the  Georgians  of  the  middle 
country.  At  the  especial  period  of  which  I  now  write,  her  humorists 
were  innumerable.  Dooly,  Clayton,  Prince,  Longstreet,  Bacon  (the 
Ned  Brace  of  Longstreet's  Georgia  Scenes),  and  many  others  of 


y0  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

lesser  note,  will  long  be  remembered  in  the  traditions  of  the  people. 
These  were  all  men  of  eminence,  and  in  their  time  filled  the  first 
offices  of  the  State.  The  quiet,  quaint  humor  of  Prince  is  to  be 
seen  in  his  Militia  Muster,  in  the  Georgia  Scenes ;  and  there  too  the 
inimitable  burlesque  of  Bacon,  in  Ned  Brace. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

WITS    AND     FIRE-EATERS. 

JUDGE  DOOLY— LAWYERS  AND  BLACKSMITHS— JOHN  FORSYTH  —  How  JURIES 
WERE  DRAWN  —  GUM-TREE  vs.  WOODEN-LEG  —  PREACHER-POLITICIANS  — 
COLONEL  GUMMING — GEORGE  MCD.UFFIE. 

JOHN  M.  DOOLY  was  a  native  of  Lincoln  County,  Georgia, 
where  he  continued  to  reside  until  his  death,  and  where  he  now 
lies  in  an  undistinguished  grave.  He  was  the  son  of  a  distin- 
guished Revolutionary  soldier,  whose  name,  in  consideration  of  his 
services  in  that  struggle,  has  been  given  to  a  county  in  the  State.  In 
early  life  he  united  himself  to  the  Federal  party,  and  from  honest 
convictions  continued  a  Federalist  in  principle  through  life.  But  for 
his  political  principles,  his  name  in  the  nation  to-day  would  have 
been  a  household  word,  familiar  as  the  proudest  upon  her  scroll  of 
fame.  In  very  early  life  he  gave  evidence  of  extraordinary  powers 
of  mind.  With  a  limited  education,  he  commenced  the  study  of 
the  law  when  quite  young.  But  despite  this  serious  defect,  which 
was  coupled  with  poverty  and  many  other  disadvantages  incident  to 
a  new  country  impoverished  by  war,  and  wanting  in  almost  every- 
thing to  aid  the  enterprise  of  talent  in  a  learned  profession,  soon 
after  his  admission  to  the  Bar  he  attracted  the  attention  of  the  com- 
munity, and  especially  the  older  members  of  the  Bar,  as  a  man  of 
extraordinary  capacity,  and  already  trained  in  the  law.  So  tenacious 
was  his  memory  of  all  that  he  read  or  heard,  that  he  not  only 
retained  the  law,  but  the  author  and  page  where  it  was  to  be  found. 
His  mind  was  eminently  logical  and  delighted  in  analytical  investiga- 
tion. In  truth,  the  law  suited  the  idiosyncrasy  of  his  mind,  and  it  was 


FIFTY     YEARS.  71 

most  fortunate  for  his  future  life,  that  he  adopted  it  as  a  lifetime 
pursuit.  Nature,  it  seems,  gives  to  every  mind  a  peculiar  proclivity, 
as  to  every  individual  a  peculiar  mind  :  to  pursue  this  proclivity  is 
a  pleasure ;  it  makes  work  a  delight,  and  this  secures  success.  Hence 
it  is  fortunate  to  learn  this  peculiarity,  and  to  cultivate  it  from  the 
beginning.  When  the  mind  is  strong  and  vigorous,  this  peculiar 
proclivity  is  generally  well-marked  to  the  inquiring  observer  in  very 
early  life. 

It  is  related  of  Benjamin  West,  the  great  painter,  that  at  five  years 
of  age  he  was  continually  soiling  the  floor  of  his  good  and  sensible 
mother  with  charcoal  sketches  of  the  faces  of  the  different  mem- 
bers of  the  family ;  and  of  Napoleon,  that  in  early  childhood  his 
favorite  amusement  was  to  build  forts  and  array  his  playmates  into 
column,  and  charge  these,  and  assault  and  enter  them.  Stevenson, 
.the  great  engineer,  spent  all  his  idle  time,  when  a  boy,  in  attempts  at 
constructing  machinery  and  bridges. 

In  these  great  minds  this  natural  trait  was  so  strongly  marked,  and 
so  controlling  in  its  influence,  as  to  defy  and  overleap  every 'obstacle, 
and  develop  its  wonderful  energy  and  capacity  in  the  most  stupendous 
manner.  In  such  as  these,  this  manifestation  is  early  and  palpable. 
Yet  the  same  peculiarity  exists  wherever  there  is  mind  sufficient  to 
connect  cause  and  effect ;  but  it  is  proportionate  with  the  strength  of 
the  mind,  and  in  ordinary  or  feeble  minds  it  is  less  conspicuous, 
and  requires  close  observation  to  discern  it  in  early  life. 

The  folly  and  ambition  of  parents  and  adverse  circumstances  too 
often  disappoint  the  intentions  of  nature,  and  compel  their  offspring, 
or  the  victims  of  circumstance,  to  follow  a  pursuit  for  which  they 
have  a  natural  aversion,  and  absolutely  no  capacity :  hence  we  see 
thousands  struggling  painfully  through  life  in  a  hated  avocation,  and 
witness  many  a  miserable  lawyer  whom  nature  designed  to  be  a 
happy  blacksmith.  His  toil  of  life  is  always  up  hill,  without  the 
possibility  of  ever  attaining  the  summit.  Sometimes  the  rebellion 
of  nature  is  successful,  and  the  misdirected  will  shake  off  the  erro- 
neously imposed  vocation,  and  dash  away  in  the  pursuit  for  which 
the  mind  is  capacitated ;  and  immediate  success  attests  the  good 
sense  and  propriety  of  the  act. 

Fortunately,  John  M.  Dooly  selected,  under  the  guidance  of 
natural  inclination,  the  profession  of  law.  His  eminence  was  early 
in  life,  and  the  public  eye  was  directed  to  him  as  one  worthy  any 


72  THE     MEM  OKIES     OF 

public  trust.  He  was  frequently  chosen  a  member  of  the  Legislature 
from  his  native  county,  and  was  distinguished  for  extraordinary 
ability  in  the  capacity  of  a  legislator.  His  conspicuous  position 
and  commanding  talents  pointed  him  out  as  one  to  take  a  foremost 
rank  with  the  first  of  the  nation ;  and  his  friends  urged  his  name  ai 
a  fit  representative  in  Congress  for  the  State.  At  this  time  the  acri- 
mony of  party  was  intense ;  the  Republican,  or  Jeffersonian  party, 
was  largely  in  the  ascendant  in  the  State,  and  would  accept  no  com- 
promise. It  was  willing  to  receive  new  converts  and  prefer  .them 
according  to  merit,  but  would  accord  no  favor  to  an  unrepentant 
enemy.  At  this  time  there  were  many  young,  talented  men  rising 
to  distinction  in  the  State,  who  were  Federalists.  With  some  of  them 
ambition  was  superior  to  principle ;  they  recanted  their  principles, 
and,  in  the  ranks  of  their  former  opponents,  reaped  a  harvest  of 
political  distinction.  Prominent  among  these  was  John  Forsyth. 
He  had  delivered  a  Fourth  of  July  oration  at  Augusta,  distinguished 
for  great  ability  and  high  Federal  doctrines.  Abraham  Baldwin,  who, 
with  the  astuteness  of  the  Yankee  —  which  he  was  —  had  renounced 
Federalism,  and  was  now  a  prominent  leader  of  the  Republican 
party,  spoke  of  this  effort  of  Forsyth  as  transcendently  great,  and 
always,  when  doing  so,  would  add:  "What  a  pity  such  abilities 
should  be  lost  to  the  country  through  the  influence  of  mistaken 
political  principle !  "  Whether  this  had  any  effect  upon  the  views  of 
Forsyth  or  not,  certain  it  is  that  very  soon  after  he  repudiated 
Federalism,  and  published  a  formal  renunciation  of  the  party  and  its 
principles.  From  that  time  forward  his  march  was  onward,  and 
now  his  name  and  fame  are  embalmed  as  national  wealth. 

Dooly  was  less  facile :  his  convictions  were  honest  and  strong,  and 
he  clung  to  them.  He  won  the  confidence  not  only  of  his  party, 
but  of  the  people,  for  high  integrity ;  but  this  was  all.  Out  of  his 
county  he  was  intrusted  with  no  political  position,  and  those  who 
most  prized  his  talents  and  integrity  could  never  be  persuaded  to 
aid  in  giving  these  to  the  country.  He  was  more  than  once  beaten 
for  the  Senate  of  the  United  States;  and  once  by  Forsyth,  who  was 
not  announced  as  a  candidate,  and  who  was  at  the  time  minister 
plenipotentiary  of  the  nation  at  the  Spanish  Court.  His  great  legal 
abilities  were,  however,  complimented  by  the  Republican  legisla- 
ture, by  placing  him  upon  the  bench  of  the  highest  judicial  tribunal 


FIFTY     YEARS.  73 

of  the  State,  where  his  usefulness  was  transcendent,  and  where  most 
of  his  life  was  spent. 

As  a  wit,  Dooly  never  had  an  equal  in  the  State,  and  there  might 
now  be  written  a  volume  of  his  social  and  judicial  wit.  Its  compass 
was  illimitable  —  from  the  most  refined  and  delicately  pungent  to  the 
coarsest  and  most  vulgarly  broad ;  but  always  pointed  and  telling. 
Nature  had  given  him  a  peculiarity  of  look  and  voice  which  gave 
edge  to  his  wit  and  point  to  his  humor. 

The  judicial  system  of  Georgia  at  this  time  was  peculiar.  The 
State  was  subdivided  into  districts,  or  circuits,  as  they  were  denom- 
inated ;  and  one  judge  appointed  to  preside  over  each.  These  were 
elected  by  the  Legislature,  on  joint  ballot,  for  a  term  of  three  years; 
and  until  faction  claimed  the  spoils  of  victory,  the  judge  who  had 
proven  himself  capable  and  honest  was  rarely  removed,  so  long  as 
he  chose  to  remain.  Dooly  was  one  of  these.  Party  never  touched 
him,  and  both  factions  concurred  in  retaining  him,  because  it  was 
the  universal  wish  of  the  people  of  his  circuit.  The  law  of  the 
country  was  the  common  law  of  England  and  the  statutes  of  the 
State.  In  the  expounding  of  these,  the  judges  frequently  differed, 
and  the  consequence  was  that  each  circuit  had,  in  many  particulars, 
its  own  peculiar  law,  antagonistic  to  that  which  was  received  as  law 
in  the  adjoining  circuit.  The  uniformity  of  law,  so  essential  to  the 
quiet  and  harmony  of  a  people,  and  so  necessary  in  defining  ihe 
title  and  securing  the  tenure  of  property,  by  this  system  was  so 
greatly  disturbed,  that  it  led  to  the  informal  assembling  of  the  judges 
at  irregular  periods,  and  upon  their  own  responsibility,  to  reconcile 
these  discrepancies.  This  in  some  degree  obviated  the  necessity  of 
a  supreme  court  for  the  correction  of  errors ;  but  was  very  unsatis- 
factory to  the  Bar,  who  were  almost  universal  in  their  desire  for  the 
establishment  of  a  tribunal  for  this  purpose.  But  there  was  another 
feature  peculiar  to  the  judicial  system  of  the  State,  to  which  her 
people  were  greatly  attached :  that  of  special  juries.  They  feared 
the  creation  of  a  supreme  court  would  abolish  this,  and  for  many 
years  resisted  it.  This  system  of  special  juries,  in  the  organization 
of  her  judiciary,  was  intended  to  obviate  the  necessity  of  a  court  of 
chancery.  The  conception  was  a  new  one,  and  in  Georgia,  with 
her  peculiar  population,  its  effects  were  admirable.  It  was  an  honest, 
common  sense  adjudication  of  equity  cases,  and  rendered  cheap  and 
speedy  justice  to  litigants.  It  was  unknown  in  the  judiciary  system 
7 


74  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

of  any  other  State,  an'd  I  will  be  excused  by  the  reader,  who  may 
not  be  a  Georgian,  for  a  brief  description  of  it  here. 

By  direction  of  the  law  of  1 798,  the  justices  of  the  Inferior  Court 
took  the  tax  list,  which  contained  the  name  of  every  white  man  of 
twenty-one  years  and  upwards  in  the  county,  and,  from  this  list, 
selected  a  certain  number  of  names,  and  placed  them  in  a  box  marked 
"  The  grand-jury  box. ' '  The  remaining  names  were  placed  in  another 
box  marked  "The  petit-jury  box."  Those  selected  as  grand  jurors 
were  chosen  because  of  their  superior  intelligence,  wealth,  and  purity 
of  character.  These  selections  were  made  at  certain  stated  periods  ; 
and  the  jurors  thus  chosen  from  the  mass  never  served  on  the  petit 
jury,  nor  were  they  liable  even  as  talesmen  to  serve  on  that  jury. 
The  same  act  made  it  the  duty  of  the  presiding  judge  of  each  circuit 
to  draw,  at  the  termination  of  each  term  of  his  court,  and  in  open 
court,  a  certain  number  of  names  from  each  box,  which  were  entered 
as  drawn  upon  the  minutes  of  the  court,  to  serve  as  grand  and  petit 
jurors  at  the  ensuing  term  of  the  court.  The  special  juries,  for  the 
trial  of  cases  in  equity,  and  appeals  from  the  verdicts  of  petit  juries, 
were  formed  from  the  grand  juries,  and  after  the  manner  following : 
A  list  was  furnished  by  the  clerk  of  the  court  to  the  appellant  and 
respondent.  From  this  list  each  had  the  right  to  strike  a  name  alter- 
nately—  the  appellant  having  the  first  stroke — until  there  remained 
twelve  names  only.  These  constituted  a  special  jury,  and  the  oath 
prescribed  by  law  for  these  jurors  was  as  follows :  "  You  shall  well 
and  truly  try  the  issue  between  the  parties,  and  a  true  verdict  give, 
according  to  law  and  equity,  and  the  opinion  you  entertain  of  the 
testimony."  Under  the  pleadings,  the  entire  history  of  the  case 
went  before  this  jury,  and  their  verdict  was  final.  It  was  this  method 
of  trial  which  prevented  so  long  that  great  desideratum  in  all  judicial 
systems  —  a  court  for  the  correction  of  errors  and  final  adjudication 
of  cases. 

Dishonest  litigants  feared  this  special  jury.  Their  characters,  as 
that  of  their  witnesses,  passed  in  review  before  this  jury,  whose  oaths 
allowed  a  latitude,  enabling  them  frequently  to  render  a  verdict, 
ostensibly  at  variance  with  the  testimony,  but  almost  always  in  aid 
of  the  ends  of  equitable  justice. 

The  system  was  eminently  promotive  of  honesty  and  good  morals, 
as  well  as  the  ends  of  justice ;  for  men's  rights  before  it  were  not 
unfrequently  determined  by  the  reputation  they  bore  in  the  com- 


FIFTY    YEARS.  75 

munity  in  which  they  lived.  This  fact  stimulated  uprightness  of 
conduct,  and  often  deterred  the  wrong-doer.  It  has  passed  away ; 
but  I  doubt  if  what  has  replaced  it  has  benefited  the  interests  or 
morals  of  the  people  of  the  State. 

Like  Mr.  Crawford,  Judge  Dooly  relied  more  upon  the  practical 
good  sense  of  the  people  as  jurors,  for  justice  between  man  and  man, 
than  upon  the  technicalities  of  the  law;  and  especially  upon  that  of 
special  juries.  Dooly  had  great  contempt  for  petit  juries,  and  evinced 
it  upon  one  occasion  by  declaring  in  open  court  that  he  thought,  if 
there  was  anything  not  known  to  the  prescience  of  the  Almighty,  it 
was  what  the  verdict  of  a  petit  jury  would  be,  when  they  left  the  box 
for  the  jury-room.  Dooly  was  an  opponent  of  Crawford  through 
life — a  friend  and  intimate  of  John  Clark,  Crawford's  greatest  enemy. 
But  his  character  was  devoid  of  that  bitterness  and  persistent  hatred 
characteristic  of  these  two.  Crawford  and  Judge  Tate  were  intimate 
friends,  and  between  these  and  Clark  there  was  continual  strife. 
Tate  and  Clark  were  brothers-in-law  ;  but  this  only  served  to  whet 
and  give  edge  to  their  animosity.  Dooly,  in  some  manner,  became 
entangled  with  Tate  in  this  feud  ;  and  an  amusing  story  is  told  of  the 
final  settlement  of  the  difficulty  between  these  men. 

Tate,  it  seems,  challenged  Dooly  to  mortal  combat.  Mr.  Crawford 
was  Tate's  friend.  Dooly,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  accepted, 
and  named  General  Clark  as  his  friend,  and  appointed  a  day  of 
meeting.  Tate  had  lost  a  leg,  and,  as  was  usual  in  that  day,  had 
substituted  a  wooden  one.  On  the  appointed  day,  Tate,  with  his 
friend,  repaired  to  the  place  of  meeting,  where  Dooly  had  preceded 
them,  and  was  alone,  sitting  upon  a  stump.  Crawford  approached 
him,  and  asked  for  his  friend,  General  Clark. 

"  He  is  in  the  woods,  sir." 

"And  will  soon  be  present,  I  presume?"  asked  Crawford. 

"Yes ;  as  soon  as  he  can  find  a  gum." 

"  May  I  inquire,  Colonel  Dooly,  what  use  you  have  for  a  gum  in 
the  matter  we  have  met  to  settle?  " 

"  I  want  it  to  put  my  leg  in,  sir.  Do  you  suppose  I  can  afford  to 
risk  my  leg  of  flesh  and  bone  against  Tate's  wooden  one  ?  If  I  hit 
his  leg,  why,  he  will  have  another  to-morrow,  and  be  pegging  about 
as  well  as  usual.  If  he  hits  mine,  I  may  lose  my  life  by  it;  but 
almost  certainly  my  leg,  and  be  compelled,  like  Tate,  to  stump  it 
the  balance  of  ray  life.  I  cannot  risk  this ;  and  must  have  a  gum  to 


76 


THE     MEMORIES     OF 


put  my  leg  in :  then  I  am  as  much  wood  as  he  is,  and  on  equal  terms 

with  him."  .  ,, 

"  I  understand  you,  Colonel  Dooly ;  you  do  not  mte 
"Well,  really,  Mr.  Crawford,  I  thought  everybody  knew  that.' 
"Very' well,  sir,"  said  Crawford  ;  "but  remember,  colonel,  your 
name,  in  no  enviable  light,  shall  fill  a  column  of  a  newspaper. " 

"Mr.  Crawford,  I  assure  you,"  replied  Colonel  Dooly,  "  I  would 
rather  fill  every  newspaper  in  Georgia  than  one  coffin." 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say,  that  Tate  and  Crawford  left  the 
field  discomfited,  and  here  the  matter  ended. 

Dooly  never  pretended  to  belligerency.  When  Judge  Gresham 
threatened  to  chastise  him,  he  coolly  replied  he  could  do  it ;  but  that 
it  would  be  no  credit  to  him,  for  anybody  could  do  it.  And  when 
he  introduced  his  friend  to  another  as  the  inferior  judge  of  the 
Inferior  Court  of  the  inferior  County  of  Lincoln,  and  was  knocked 
down  for  the  insult,  he  intreated  the  bystanders  not  to  suffer  him  to 
be  injured.  When  released  from  the  grasp  of  his  antagonist,  he 
rubbed  his  head,  and  facetiously  said:  "This  is  the  forty-second 
fight  I  have  had,  and  if  I  ever  got  the  best  of  one,  I  do  not  now 
recollect  it." 

Judge  Dooly  was  much  beloved  by  the  younger  members  of  the 
Bar,  to  whom  he  was  ever  kind  and  indulgent,  associating  with  them 
upon  his  circuit,  and  joining  in  all  their  amusements.  His  wit  spared 
no  one,  and  yet  no  one  was  offended  at  it.  His  humor  was  the  life 
of  the  company  wherever  he  was,  and  he  was  never  so  burdened 
with  official  dignity  as  to  restrain  it  on  the  bench.  Unbiassed  by 
party  considerations  or  personal  prejudices,  and  only  influenced  by 
a  sense  of  duty  and  wish  to  do  right,  it  was  impossible  he  could  be 
otherwise  than  popular.  This  popularity,  however,  was  personal, 
not  political,  and  could  never  secure  to  him  any  political  distinction. 
He  was  ambitious  of  a  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate,  a  distinction 
to  which  he  more  than  once  aspired  ;  but  here  the  grinning  ghost  of 
Federalism  always  met  him,  frightening  from  his  support  even  the 
nearest  of  his  social  friends.  Mr.  Crawford's  wishes  controlled  the 
State,  through  the  instrumentality  of  those  he  had  distinguished  with 
his  countenance.  None  doubted  the  patriotism  or  capacity  of  Dooly 
for  the  position ;  but  he  was  a  Federalist,  and  the  friend  of  many  of 
the  prime  movers  of  the  Yazoo  fraud  ;  and  these  were  unpardonable 
sins  with  Crawford  and  his  friends.  No  one  ever  charged  upon 


FIFTY     VEARS.  77 

Dooly  the  sin  of  a  participation  in  this  speculation,  or  the  frauds 
through  which  it  became  a  fixed  fact,  as  a  law  of  the  State,  by  legis- 
lative act.  But  it  was,  for  a  very  long  time,  fatal  to  the  political 
aspirations  of  every  one  known  to  be  personally  friendly  to  any  man 
in  any  way  concerned  in  the  matter.  They  were  pariahs  in  the  land, 
without  friends  or  caste. 

Of  all  the  men  prominent  in  his  day,  George  M.  Troup  was  the 
most  uncompromising  in  his  hostility  to  those  engaged  in  this  specu- 
lation. It  certainly  was  the  work  of  a  few  persons  only,  and  did  not 
embrace  one  out  of  fifty  of  the  Georgia  Company.  All,  or  nearly 
all  of  these,  honestly  embarked  in  the  speculation,  not  doubting  but 
that  the  State  had  the  power  to  sell,  and  knowing  her  pecuniary 
condition  required  that  she  should  have  money.  Had  they  known 
that  it  required  bribery  to  pass  the  measure,  they  would  have  scorned 
to  become  parties  to  such  corruption  ;  nevertheless  they  were  incul- 
pated, and  had  to  share  the  infamy  of  the  guilty  few  who  thus  accom- 
plished the  purchase,  as  they  shared  the  profits  arising  therefrom. 
But  it  did  not  stop  with  the  participants.  Their  personal  friends  suf- 
fered, and  no  one  individual  so  fatally  as  Dooly.  He  asserted  the 
power  of  the  Legislature  to  sell  —  he  was  sustained  by  the  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court  —  he  was  not  a  stockholder  —  he  afforded  no  aid 
with  his  personal  influence ;  yet  the  public  clamor  made  him  a  Yazoo- 
man,  and  Troup  was  foremost  in  his  denunciation  of  him.  On  this 
account  it  was  that,  upon  a  memorable  occasion,  Dooly  declared 
that  Troup's  mouth  was  formed  by  nature  to  pronounce  the  word 
Yazoo.  It  had  been  proposed  to  Dooly,  at  the  time  Forsyth  aban- 
doned the  Federal  party,  to  follow  his  example ;  but  he  refused 
to  part  with  his  first  love,  and  clung  to  her,  and  shared,  without  a 
murmur,  her  fortunes  and  her  fate,  which  condemned  him  to  a 
comparative  obscurity  for  all  the  future. 

It  was  long  years  after,  and  when  Mr.  Forsyth  was  in  the  zenith 
of  his  popularity,  that  the  friends  of  Dooly  proposed  his  name  for 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  His  was  the  only  name  announced 
as  a  candidate  to  the  Legislature,  but,  on  counting  the  ballots,  it  was 
found  Forsyth  had  been  elected.  Dooly  was  present,  and  remarked 
to  a  friend  that  he  was  the  only  man  he  ever  knew  to  be  beaten  who 
ran  without  opposition.  He  saw  the  aspiring  companions  of  his 
youth  favorites  of  the  people,  and  thrust  forward  into  public  places, 
winning  fame,  and  rising  from  one  position  to  another  of  higher 


7g  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

distinction.  He  witnessed  the  advance  of  men  whom  he  'had  known 
as  children  in  his  manhood,  preferred  over  him  ;  and,  in  the  cor 
sciousness  of  his  own  superiority  to  most  or  all  of  these,  rather 
despised  than  regretted  the  prejudices  of  the  public  - 
by  men  designing  and  selfish  — which  consigned  him  to  obsct 
because  of  an  honest  difference  of  opinion  upon  a  point  of  policy 
which  ninety  out  of  every  hundred  knew  nothing  about.  While  the 
companions  of  his  early  youth  were  filling  missions  abroad,  execu- 
tive offices  at  home,  and  Cabinet  appointments,  he  was  wearing  out 
his  life  in  a  position  where,  whatever  his  abilities,  there  was  little 
fame  to  be  won.  Still  he  would  make  no  compromise  of  principle. 
In  faith  he  was  sincere,  and  too  honest  to  pretend  a  faith  he  had  not, 
though  honors  and  proud  distinction  waited  to  reward  the  deceit. 
As  true  to  his  friends  as  his  principles,  he  would  not  desert  either, 
and  surrender  his  virtue  to  the  seductions  of  office  and  honors. 
Toward  the  close  of  his  life,  his  friends  got  into  office  and  power. 
His  friend,  John  Clarke,  was  elected  Governor,  upon  the  demise  of 
Governor  Rabun;  but  his  day  had  passed ,  and  other  and  younger 
men  thrust  him  aside.  Parties  were  growing  more  and  more  cor- 
rupt, and  to  subserve  the  uses  of  corruption,  more  tractable  and 
pliant  tools  were  required  than  could  be  made  of  Dooly. 

The  election  of  Clarke  was  a  triumph  over  the  friends  of  Craw- 
ford, who  was  then  a  member  of  Mr.  Monroe's  Cabinet,  and  had 
long  been  absent  from  the  State.  It  revived  anew  the  flame  of  dis- 
cord, which  had  smouldered  under  the  ashes  of  time.  The  embers 
lived,  and  the  division  into  parties  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  consequent  upon  the  disruption  of  the  Federal  and  Repub- 
lican parties,  and  the  candidacy  of  Mr.  Crawford  for  the  Presidency, 
caused  a  division  of  the  old  Republican  party  in  Georgia.  Clarke 
immediately  headed  the  opposition  to  Crawford,  and  his  election 
was  hailed  as  an  evidence  of  Mr.  Crawford's  unpopularity  at  home. 
This  election  startled  the  old  friends  of  this  distinguished  son  of 
Georgia,  and  revived  the  old  feeling.  Clarke  was  a  man  of  strong 
will,  without  much  mind,  brave,  and  vindictive,  and  nursed  the 
most  intense  hatred  of  Crawford  constantly  in  his  heart.  The  long 
absence  of  Crawford  from  the  State,  and  the  secluded  retirement  of 
Clarke,  had  caused  to  cool  in  the  public  mind  much  of  the  former 
bitterness  of  the  two  factions  in  the  State,  but  now  it  was  rekindled. 
There  were  very  many  young  men,  who  had  been  too  young  to  take 


fIFTY     YEARS.  79 

any  part  in  these  factions,  but  who  were  now  the  active  and  ambitious 
element  in  the  State.  Many  persons,  too,  had  immigrated  into  the 
new-settled  parts  of  the  State,  who  were  strangers  to  the  feuds  which 
had  once  divided  her  people,  and  which  now  began  to  do  so  anew. 
Each  party  sought  to  win  and  secure  this  element.  Every  news- 
paper in  the  State,  every  judge  upon  the  bench,  every  member  of 
Congress  was  in  the  interest  of  Crawford ;  and  yet  there  was  a 
majority  of  the  people  of  the  State  attached  to  the  Clarke  faction. 
He  and  his  friends  had  long  been  proscribed,  and  they  pleaded  per- 
secution. The  natural  sympathies  of  the  heart  were  touched  by  these 
appeals,  and  it  was  feared  the  State  would  be  lost  to  Crawford  in  the 
coming  Presidential  election.  Every  effort  was  now  to  be  made  to 
defeat  this  faction  against  him,  headed  by  Clarke.  The  election  of 
Governor  at  this  time  was  by  the  Legislature ;  and  it  was  not  antici- 
pated that  there  would  be  any  difficulty  in  the  re-election  of  Rabun, 
and,  consequently,  there  had  been  no  agitation  of  the  question  before 
the  people  at  the  recent  election  of  members  of  the  Legislature. 
Scarcely  a  tithe  of  the  people  had  even  heard  of  the  candidacy  of 
Clarke  when  his  election  was  announced ;  and,  at  the  time,  so  little 
interest  was  felt  on  the  subject,  that  very  few  objected  to  his  elec- 
tion. Clarke  was  a  man  of  violent  passions,  and  had  been,  to  some 
extent,  irregular  and  dissipated  in  his  habits.  When  excited  by  any 
means,  he  was  fierce ;  but  when  with  drink,  he  was  boisterous,  abu- 
sive, and  destructive.  Many  stories  were  related  of  terrible  acts  of 
his  commission  —  riding  into  houses,  smashing  furniture,  glass,  and 
crockery — of  persecutions  of  his  family  and  weak  persons  he  dis- 
liked. This  had  aroused  in  the  pious  and  orderly  members  of 
society  strong  opposition  to  him,  and  at  this  time  all  his  sins  and 
irregularities  were  widely  and  loudly  heralded  to  the  public.  The 
preachers,  with  few  exceptions,  denounced  him,  and  those  who  did 
not  were  very  soon  with  him  denounced.  Very  soon  after  his  inau- 
guration, the  celebrated  Jesse  Mercer — the  great  gun  of  the  Baptist 
denomination  in  Georgia — was  invited  to  preach  the  funeral  sermon 
of  Governor  Rabun.  Mercer  was  an  especial  friend  of  Mr.  Craw- 
ford, and  a  more  especial  enemy  of  Clarke.  In  many  respects  he 
was  a  remarkable  man  —  a  zealous  and  intolerant  sectarian,  and 
quite  as  uncompromising  and  bitter  in  his  political  feelings.  His 
zeal  knew  no  bounds  in  propagating  his  religious  faith,  and  it  was 
quite  as  ardent  in  persecuting  his  political  opponents.  It  was  doubt- 


gO  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

ful  which  he  most  hated  —  the  Devil  or  John  Clarke.  Rabun  had 
been  his  neighbor,  his  friend,  and,  above  all,  a  member  and  elder  in 
his  church.  It  was  quite  fitting  under  the  circumstances  that  he 
should  be  selected  to  officiate  in  the  funeral  services  in  honor  of  the 
late  Governor.  From  respect,  Clarke  and  the  Legislature  were  pres- 
ent. The  moment  Mercer's  eye,  from  the  pulpit,  descried  Clarke, 
he  threw  open  his  Bible  violently,  and  for  many  minutes  was  busy 
searching  from  page  to  page  some  desired  text.  At  last  he  smiled. 
And  such  a  smile  !  It  was  malignant  as  that  of  a  catamount.  Turn- 
ing down  the  leaf — as  was  the  custom  of  his  church  —  he  rose  and 
gave  out  to  be  sung,  line  by  line,  his  hymn.  This  concluded,  he 
made  a  short  and  hurried  prayer  —  contrary  to  his  custom  —  and, 
rising  from  his  prayerful  position,  opened  his  Bible,  and  fixing  his 
eye  upon  Clarke,  he  directed  his  audience  to  his  text,  and  read : 

"When  the  wicked  rule,  the  land  mourns." 

The  expression  of  his  countenance,  the  twinkling  of  his  eye,  all 
pointed  so  clearly  to  Clarke  as  to  direct  the  attention  of  every  one 
present  to  the  Governor.  This  was  followed  by  a  sermon  half  made 
up  of  the  irregularities  of  Clarke's  life.  This  was  the  tocsin  to  the 
church,  and  it  came  down  in  force  with  the  opposition  to  the  Gov- 
ernor elect.  It  was,  too,  the  slogan  of  the  Crawford  party  to  rally 
for  a  new  conflict. 

Mr.  Crawford's  conduct  as  a  representative  of  the  State  in  Con- 
gress, and  the  representative  of  her  people  in  his  foreign  mission, 
had  been  eminently  satisfactory ;  and  his  present  elevated  position 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  was  exceedingly 
gratifying  to  their  pride.  When  it  was  determined  by  his  friends  to 
present  his  name  to  the  nation  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  it 
was  supposed  his  support  would  be  unanimous  in  Georgia.  Time 
had  given  opportunity  for  the  prejudices  and  hatreds  of  youth  to 
wear  out  with  the  passions  of  youth.  Those,  however,  who  knew 
John  Clarke,  were  not  deceived  when  he  successfully  rallied  a  party 
in  opposition.  So  little  interest  had  been  felt  in  the  personal  diffi- 
culty formerly  existing  between  Clarke  and  Crawford,  that  even 
those  who  remembered  it  attached  to  it  no  importance,  and  they  did 
not  suppose  Clarke's  election  was  to  be  the  commencement  of  an 
organized  opposition  to  Crawford's  election,  and  of  the  bitterness 
which  was  to  follow. 

There  was   scarcely  the  show  of  opposition  to   the   election  of 


FIFTY     YEARS.  8l 

Clarke.  Those  who  remembered  the  old  feud,  and  how  completely 
it  had  pressed  down  all  the  ambitious  hopes  and  aspirations  of  Clarke, 
were  willing  to  forget  the  past,  and,  though  warm  friends  of  Mr. 
Crawford,  to  vote  for  Clarke,  and  honor  him  with  the  first  office  in 
the  State.  Some  felt  his  treatment  had  been  too  harsh,  and  that  for 
his  father's  Yazoo  antecedents  he  had  been  made  to  pay  quite  too 
severe  a  penalty,  and  were  desirous  to  manifest  their  feelings  in  their 
votes.  Besides, his  family  connections  were  most  respectable.  Grif- 
fin Campbell  and  Dr.  Bird  were  his  brothers-in-law,  and  were  men 
of  high  character  and  great  influence.  The  friends  of  these  gentle- 
men united  in  his  support.  And  there  was  still  another,  whose 
influence,  to  the  writer's  knowledge,  carried  four  young,  talented 
members  of  the  House  to  the  support  of  her  father  —  Ann  Clarke, 
the  only  daughter  of  John  Clarke,  who  had  no  superior  among  her 
sex  in  talent,  beauty,  and  accomplishments,  in  the  State.  During 
the  incumbency  of  her  father  she  did  the  honors  of  the  executive 
mansion  with  a  dignity,  grace,  and  affability  which  won  aU  hearts, 
and  added  greatly  to  the  popularity  of  the  Governor.  She  married 
Colonel  John  W.  Campbell,  and  all  her  after  -  life  has  justified 
the  promise  of  her  girlhood.  Left  a  widow  with  many  children, 
she  has  reared  and  educated  them  to  be  an  honor  to  their  mother, 
and,  as  she  was,  an  ornament  to  society.  She  is  now  an  aged 
woman,  and  resides  in  Texas,  honored  and  beloved  by  all  who 
know  her. 

The  election  of  Clarke  was  illy  received  by  the  old  and  tried 
friends  of  Crawford  throughout  the  State.  They  knew  him.  His 
stern,  inflexible  character  and  indomitable  will  were  sure  to  rally 
about  him  a  party ;  and  his  personal  bravery  ahd  devotion  to  his 
friends  would  greatly  aid  in  keeping  and  inspiring  these.  His  posi- 
tion now  was  one  of  strength,  with  the  capacity  to  increase  it,  and 
the  material  was  abundant ;  yet  there  were  formidable  difficulties  in 
his  way.  All,  or  very  nearly  all  of  the  leading  families  of  the  State 
—  the  Lamars,  Cobbs,  Mclntoshes,  Waynes,  Telfairs,  Cummings, 
Tatnals,  Dawsons,  Abercrombies,  Holts,  Blackshears,  and  many 
others  —  were  Republicans,  and  active  in  the  support  of  Crawford 
for  the  Presidency.  These  apparently  insurmountable  difficulties 
were  to  be  overcome  in  the  organization  of  new  parties.  The  com- 
plete breaking  up  of  the  Republican  party  of  the  nation  was  favora- 
ble ;  and  there  was  another  element  which  the  sagacity  of  Campbel1 

F 


82  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

soon  discovered  and  laid  hold  upon.  There  were  many  ambitious 
and  disappointed  men  and  families  in  the  State  beside  Clarke  and 
his  family. 

The  overwhelming  popularity  of  Crawford  as  the  head  of  the 
Republican  party  in  the  State  had  enabled  his  friends  to  monopolize 
all  the  offices,  and  give  direction  to  every  political  movement  and 
fix  the  destiny  of  every  political  aspirant.  Under  this  rtgime  many 
had  been  summarily  set  aside,  and  were  soured.  The  talents  of 
Troup,  Forsyth,  Cobb,  Berrien.  Tatnal,  and  some  others,  pointed 
them  out  as  men  to  be  honored,  because  they  honored  the  State. 
They  seemed  to  hold  a  possessory  right  to  the  distinguished  posi- 
;feions,  and  to  dictate  who  should  be  elected  to  the  minor  ones. 
Young  ambition  submitted,  but  was  restless  and  impatient  to  break 
away  from  this  dominion.  Party  stringency  had  enforced  it,  but 
this  was  loosened,  and  all  that  was  now  wanting  was  a  head  to  rally 
them  into  a  new  and  formidable  party.  Every  old  Federalist  in  the 
State  who  had  clung  to  his  principles  attached  himself  to  Clarke. 
There  were  many  strong  families,  wielding  a  potent  influence  in  their 
neighborhoods,  attached  to  Federal  principles.  The  Watkins,  Hills, 
Walkers,  Gksscocks,  and  Adamses  all  soon  sided  with  the  new 
party.  A  press  in  its  support  was  greatly  needed,  and  was  soon 
established,  and  given  in  charge  of  Cosein  E.  Bartlett,  than  whom 
no  man  was  better  calculated  for  such  a  service  as  was  demanded  of 
him. 

There  were.not  at  this  time  a  dozen  newspapers  in  the  State.  With 
all  of  them  had  Bartlett  to  do  battle  for  the  cause  in  which  he  had 
enlisted,  and  right  valiantly  did  he  do  it.  He  was  a  fluent  and  most 
caustic  writer,  and  was  always  ready,  not  only  to  write,  but  to  fight 
for  his  party,  and  would  with  his  blood  sustain  anything  he  might 
say  or  write.  Like  most  party  editors,  he  only  saw  the  interest  of 
his  party  in  what  he  would  write,  and  would  write  anything  he  sup- 
posed would  further  the  «nds  of  his  party.  Almost  immediately 
after  the  election  of  Clarke,  the  opposition  presented  the  name  of 
•George  M.  Troup,  who  had  been  voted  for  as  an  opposing  candi- 
date at  the  time  of  Clarke's  election.  It  was  but  a  little  while  before 
the  State  trembled  with  the  agitation  which  seemed  to  disturb  every 
breast.  None  could  be  neutral.  All  were  compelled  to  take  sides 
or  be  crushed  between  the  contending  parties  or  factions ;  for  this 
division  of  the  people  was  only  factious.  There  was  no  great  prin- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  83 

ciple  upon  which  they  divided ;  it  was  men  only.  Clarke  and  his 
friends  favored  the  pretensions  of  Mr.  Calhoun  to  the  Presidency 
solely  because  he  was  the  enemy  of  Crawford,  and  they  were  subse- 
quently transferred  to  the  support  of  Jackson  as  readily  as  cattle  in 
the  market. 

For  two  years  was  this  agitation  increasing  in  intensity,  and  so 
bitter  had  it  made  animosities  arising  out  of  it,  that  reason  seemed  to 
reel,  and  justice  to  forget  her  duty.  Men  were  chosen  indiscrimi- 
nately to  office  because  of  party  proclivities.  Intelligence  and  moral 
worth  were  entirely  disregarded — families  divided  —  husbands  and 
wives  quarrelled  —  father  and  sons  were  estranged,  and  brothers 
were  at  deadly  strife.  There  was  no  argument  in  the  matter ;  for 
there  was  nothing  upon  which  to  predicate  an  argument.  To  intro- 
duce the  subject  was  to  promote  a  quarrel.  Churches  were  dis- 
tracted and  at  discord,  and  the  pulpit,  for  the  first  time  in  Georgia, 
desecrated  by  political  philippics.  Pierce  then,  as  now,  was  the 
leading  minister  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  the  State,  and  abstained 
in  the  pulpit,  but  made  no  secret  of  his  preferences  upon  the  street. 
Duffie  travelled  everywhere.  He  had  by  unkindness  driven  from 
him  his  wife  with  her  infant  child,  and,  in  her  helpless  and  desperate 
condition,  she  had  taken  refuge  with  the  Shaking  Quakers  in  the 
West,  and  remained  with  them  until  her  death.  His  son  came  to 
him  after  maturity,  and  was  established  by  him  on  a  plantation  with 
a  number  of  slaves ;  but,  having  inherited  all  the  brutal  ferocity  of 
his  father,  it  was  not  long  before  he  murdered  one  or  two  of  them. 
Incarcerated  in  the  county  jail,  his  father  invoked  party  aid  to  release 
him,  openly  declaring  it  was  due  to  him  for  party  services  in  oppos- 
ing that  son  of  the  Devil — John  Clarke.  Whether  his  party  or  his 
money  did  the  work  I  know  not ;  but  the  miserable  wretch  escaped 
from  jail,  and  was  never  brought  to  trial. 

Peter  Gautier  was  another  prominent  preacher -politician,  and 
exercised  his  talents  in  the  service  of  Clarke.  He  was  by  birth 
an  American,  but  his  parents  were  French.  He  was  a  bad  man, 
but  of  eminent  abilities,  and  exercised  great  influence  in  the  western 
portion  of  the  State.  -  After  Pierce,  he  was  the  superior  of  all  of  his 
denomination  as  a  pulpit  orator ;  and  in  will  and  energy  unequalled 
by  any  other.  Bold,  unscrupulous,  and  passionate,  he,  regardless 
of  his  profession,  mingled  freely,  at  county  musters  and  political 
barbecues,  with  the  lowest  and  vilest  of  the  community,  using  every 


84  THE    MEMORIES    OF 

art  his  genius  suggested  to  inflame  the  mad  passions  of  men  already 
excited  to  frenzy.  In  after  life  the  viciousness  and  unscrupulous- 
ness  of  his  nature  overmastered  his  hypocrisy  and  burst  out  in  acts 
of  dishonesty  and  profanity,  which  disgraced  and  drove  him  from 
the  State.  He  sought  security  from  public  scorn  in  the  wilds  of 
Florida ;  but  all  restraint  had  given  way,  and  very  soon  the  innate 
perfidy  of  his  nature  manifested  itself  in  all  his  conduct,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  retire  from  Florida.  At  that  time  Texas  was  the  outlet 
for  all  such  characters,  and  thither  went  Gautier,  where  he  died. 

Every  means  which  talent  and  ingenuity  could  devise  was  put  into 
requisition  by  both  parties  to  secure  their  ascendency.  The  men  of 
abilities  greatly  preponderated  in  the  Troup  faction ;  and  the  pens 
of  Cobb,  Gumming,  Wild,  Grantland,  Gilmer,  and  Foster  were 
active  in  promoting  the  election  of  Troup,  and  thereby  regaining 
the  lost  power  of  the  old  Crawford  or  Republican  party.  Many 
young  men  of  talent  had  espoused  the  Clarke  faction,  and,  under  the 
guidance  of  Dooly,  Campbell,  and  Clarke,  were  doing  yeomen's 
work  for  the  cause.  Among  these  was  Charles  J.  McDonald,  whose 
fine  character  and  family  influence  rendered  him  conspicuously 
popular.  This  popularity  he  retained  to  the  end  of  his  life.  It 
elevated  him  to  the  Gubernatorial  chair,  after  serving  in  the  United 
States  Congress  and  for  years  upon  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court. 
His  talents  were  not  of  the  first  order,  but  his  honesty,  sincerity,  and 
goodness  made  him  beloved. 

Bartlett  was  struggling  with  all  his  energies  to  write  up  the  admin- 
istration and  to  defend  the  Governor  against  the  fierce  and  reiterated 
attacks  of  the  opposition.  About  this  period  there  appeared  some 
articles  in  a  paper  in  Augusta,  Georgia,  reflecting  upon  Mr.  Craw- 
ford, in  reply  to  several  papers  signed  "  C.,"  which  were  written  by 
Richard  H.  Wild,  then  a  member  of  Congress  from  Georgia. 
These  articles  were  attributed  to  Colonel  William  Gumming,  of 
Augusta,  and  "  C.,"  in  reply,  attacked  him  severely.  He  was  not  a 
man  to  be  badgered  by  an  anonymous  writer  in  a  newspaper.  He 
demanded  immediately  of  the  editor  the  name  of  his  correspondent, 
and  that  of  George  McDuffie,  of  South  Carolina,  was  given.  A  chal- 
lenge ensued  — a  meeting  followed,  in  which  McDuffie  was  seriously 
wounded,  and  which  ultimately  caused  his  death.  This  affair  in- 
creased the  hatred  between  the  Georgians  and  Carolinians,  as  it  did 
not  cease  with  a  single  meeting.  Gumming  renewed  his  challenge 


FIFTY     YEARS.  85 

in  consequence  of  a  statement  made  by  McDuffie  in  a  paper  to  the 
public,  narrating  offensively  —  as  Gumming  felt  —  the  particulars  of 
the  affair.  A  second  meeting  was  the  consequence,  at  which  a  diffi- 
culty arose  between  the  seconds,  and  it  was  adjourned  to  another 
day  and  another  place.  At  this  third  meeting,  in  an  exchange  of 
shots,  McDuffie's  arm  was  broken,  and  this  terminated  the  difficulty; 
but  it  did  not  appease  the  animosity  of  the  friends  of  the  parties. 

These  combatants  were  both  men  of  remarkable  abilities.  Colonel 
William  Gumming  was  a  native  of  Augusta,  Georgia.  Born  to  the 
inheritance  of  fortune,  he  received  a  liberal  education  and  selected 
the  law  as  a  profession.  He  read  with  the  celebrated  Judges  Reeve 
and  Gould,  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut.  At  the  period  of  his  study 
this  was  the  only  law-school  in  the  United  States.  Many  anecdotes 
of  his  peculiarities  during  his  residence  at  the  school  were  related  by 
his  preceptors  to  the  young  gentlemen  from  Georgia  who  followed 
him  in  the  office  in  after  years.  A  moot  court  was  a  part  of  the  sys- 
tem of  instruction,  in  which  questions  of  law,  propounded  by  one  of 
the  professors,  were  argued  by  students  appointed  for  the  purpose. 
On  one  occasion,  Gumming  was  replying  to  the  argument  of  a  com- 
petitor, and  was  so  caustic  as  to  be  offensive.  This  was  resented 
by  insulting  words.  Turning  to  the  gentleman,  and  without  speak- 
ing, Gumming  knocked  him  down.  Immediately,  and  without  the 
slightest  appearance  of  excitement,  addressing  the  presiding  profes- 
sor, he  remarked  :  "Having  thus  summarily  disposed  of  the  gentle- 
man, I  will  proceed  to  treat  his  argument  in  like  manner." 

Upon  his  return  to  Georgia,  the  war  with  England  having  broken 
out,  he  procured  the  commission  of  a  captain  and  entered  the  army. 
He  was  transferred  to  the  northern  frontier  —  then  the  seat  of  active 
operations  —  and  soon  distinguished  himself  amid  that  immortal 
band,  all  of  whom  now  sleep  with  their  fathers  —  Miller,  Brook, 
U>sup,  McCrea,  Appling,  Gaines,  and  Twiggs.  Gumming,  Appling, 
and  Twiggs  were  Georgians.  At  the  battle  of  Lundy's  Lane  he  was 
severely  wounded  and  borne  from  the  field.  He  was  placed  in  an 
adjoining  room  to  General  Preston,  who  was  also  suffering  from  a 
wound.  Gumming  was  a  favorite  of  Preston  s,  and  both  were  full 
of  prejudice  toward  the  men  of  the  North.  Late  at  night,  Preston 
was  aroused  by  a  boisterous  laugh  in  Cumming's  apartment.  Such 
a  laugh  was  so  unusual  with  him  that  the  general  supposed  he  had 


86  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

become  delirious  from  pain.  He  was  unable  to  go  to  him,  but 
called  and  inquired  the  cause  of  his  mirth. 

"I  can't  sleep,"  was  the  reply,  "and  I  was  thinking  over  the 
incidents  of  the  day,  and  just  remembered  that  there  had  not  in  the 
conflict  been  an  officer  wounded  whose  home  was  north  of  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line.  Those  fellows  know  well  how  to  take  care  of 
their  bacon." 

He  was  soon  promoted  to  a  colonelcy,  and  was  fast  rising  to  the 
next  grade  when  the  war  terminated.  In  the  reduction  of  the  army 
he  was  retained  —  a  compliment  to  his  merits  as  a  man  and  an 
officer.  He  was  satisfied  with  this,  and,  in  declining  to  remain  in 
the  army,  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  War : 

"There  are  many  whose  services  have  been  greater,  and  whose 
merits  are  superior  to  mine,  who  have  no  other  means  of  a  liveli- 
hood. I  am  independent,  and  desire  some  other  may  be  retained 
in  my  stead." 

He  was  unambitious  of  political  distinction,  though  intensely 
solicitous  to  promote  that  of  his  friends.  His  high  qualities  of  soul 
and  mind  endeared  him  to  the  people  of  the  State,  who  desired  and 
sought  every  occasion  which  they  deemed  worthy  of  him,  to  tender 
him  the  first  positions  within  their  gift ;  but  upon  every  one  of  these 
he  remained  firm  to  his  purpose,  refusing  always  the  proffered  pre- 
ferment. Upon  one  occasion,  when  written  to  by  a  majority  of  the 
members  of  the  Legislature,  entreating  him  to  permit  them  to  send 
him  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  he  declined,  adding :  "  I  am 
a  plain,  military  man.  Should  my  country,  in  that  capacity,  require 
my  services,  I  shall  be  ready  to  render  them;  but  in  no  other." 
He  continued  to  reside  in  Augusta  in  extreme  seclusion.  Upon  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  with  Mexico  he  was  tendered,  by  Mr.  Polk, 
the  command  of  the  army,  but  declined  on  account  of  his  age  and 
declining  health,  deeming  himself  physically  incapable  of  encounter- 
ing the  fatigue  the  position  would  involve. 

The  habits  of  Colonel  Gumming  were  peculiar.  His  intercourse 
with  his  fellow-men  was  confined  to  a  very  few  tried  friends.  He 
never  married,  and  was  rarely  known  to  hold  any  familiar  intercourse 
with  females.  So  secluded  did  he  live,  that  for  many  years  he  was 
a  stranger  to  almost  every  one  in  his  native  city.  He  was  strictly 
truthful,  punctual  to  his  engagements  in  business  matters,  and  honest 
in  all  things.  In  person,  he  was  very  commanding.  In  his  walk  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  87 

whole  man  was  seen — erect,  dignified,  and  impetuous.  Energy  and 
command  flashed  from  his  great,  gray  eyes.  His  large  head  and 
square  chin,  with  lips  compressed,  indicated  the  talent  and  firmness 
which  were  the  great  characteristics  of  his  nature.  Impatient  of 
folly,  he  cultivated  no  intercourse  with  silly  persons,  nor  brooked 
for  a  moment  the  forward  impertinence  of  little  pretenders.  To 
those  whose  qualities  of  mind  and  whose  habits  were  congenial  to 
his  own,  and  whom  he  permitted  familiarly  to  approach  him,  he 
was  exceedingly  affable,  and  with  such  he  frequently  jested,  and 
hilariously  enjoyed  the  piquant  story  in  mirthful  humor ;  but  this  was 
for  the  few.  He  was  a  proud  man,  and  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal 
his  contempt  for  pert  folly  or  intrusive  ignorance,  wherever  and  in 
whomsoever  he  met  it. 

In  early  life  he  was  the  close  intimate  of  Richard  Henry  Wild, 
and  was  a  great  admirer  of  his  genius,  and  especially  his  great  and 
interesting  conversational  powers.  Unexceptionable  in  his  morals,  he 
was  severe  upon  those  whose  lives  were  deformed  by  the  petty  vices 
which  society  condemns  yet  practises  in  so  many  instances  and  uni- 
versally tolerates. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  the  talents  and  learning  of  such  a 
man  should  not  be  given  to  mankind.  Every  one  capable  of  appre- 
ciating these  great  attributes  in  man,  and  who  knew  Colonel  Gum- 
ming, will,  with  the  writer,  regret  that  he  persistently  refused  every 
persuasion  of  his  friends  to  allow  them  to  place  him  in  such  a  position 
before  the  country  as  would  bring  his  great  qualities  prominently 
forward  in  the  service,  and  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men.  His 
proud  nature  scorned  the  petty  arts  of  the  politician ;  and  he  doubt- 
less felt  place  could  only  be  had  or  retained  by  the  use  of  these 
arts  ;  he  was  of  too  high  principle  to  descend  to  them,  and  held 
in  great  contempt  those  whose  confidence  and  favor  could  only 
be  had  by  chicanery.  He  was  not  a  people's  man,  and  had  in  his 
nature  very  little  in  common  with  the  masses  ;  and,  like  Coriolanus, 
scorned  and  shunned  the  great  unwashed.  He  lived  out  his  three- 
score years  and  ten,  hiding  the  jewel  God  had  given  him,  and 
appropriating  it  only  to  the  use  of  his  own  happiness  in  the  solitude 
he  loved. 

George  McDuffie  was  a  very  different  man.  Born  of  humble 
parentage  in  one  of  the  eastern  counties  of  Georgia,  he  enjoyed  but 
few  advantages.  His  early  education  was  limited  :  a  fortuitous  cir- 


88  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

cumstance  brought  him  to  the  knowledge  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  saw 
at  once  in  the  boy  the  promise  of  the  man.  Proposing  to  educate 
him  and  fit  him  for  a  destiny  which  he  believed  an  eminent  one,  he 
invited  him  to  his  home,  and  furnished  him  with  the  means  of  accom- 
plishing this  end.  His  ambition  had  often  whispered  to  his  young 
mind  a  proud  future,  and  he  commenced  the  acquisition  of  the  edu- 
cation which  was,  as  he  felt,  essential  as  a  means  of  its  attainment. 
In  this  he  made  rapid  progress,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  grad- 
uated at  the  university  of  South  Carolina.  It  was  not  long  after 
graduating  before  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar,  and  commenced  the 
practice  of  law  in  company  with  Eldridge  Simpkins,  at  Edgefield 
Court  House,  who  was,  if  I  mistake  not,  at  the  time,  a  member  of 
Congress. 

The  rise  of  McDuffie  at  the  Bar  was  rapid  ;  he  had  not  practised 
three  years  before  his  position  was  by  the  side  of  the  first  minds  of 
the  State,  and  his  name  in  the  mouth  of  every  one  —  the  coming  man 
of  the  South.  It  was  probably  owing  to  the  defence  made  by  him 
of  William  Taylor  for  the  killing  of  Dr.  Cheesboro,  that  he  became 
famous  as  it  were  in  a  day.  This  case  excited  the  people  of  the 
whole  State  cf  South  Carolina.  The  parties  were,  so  far  as  position 
was  concerned,  the  first  in  the  State.  William  Taylor  was  the  brother 
of  John  Taylor,  who  at  the  time  of  the  killing  was  Governor  of  the 
State.  John  Taylor,  his  grandfather,  was  a  distinguished  officer  in 
the  army  of  the  Revolution  :  the  family  was  wealthy,  and  extensively 
connected  with  the  first  families  of  the  State.  Cheesboro  was  a 
young  physician  of  great  promise  and  extensive  practice.  Jealousy 
was  the  cause  of  the  killing,  and  was  evidently  groundless.  The 
deed  was  done  in  the  house  of  Taylor,  in  the  city  of  Columbia,  and 
was  premeditated  murder.  Mrs.  Taylor  was  a  lovely  woman  and 
highly  connected.  In  her  manners  she  was  affable  and  cordial ;  she 
was  a  great  favorite  in  society,  and  her  universal  popularity  attracted 
to  her  the  host  of  friends  who  so  much  admired  her.  Dr.  Cheesboro 
was  one  of  these,  and  the  green-eyed  monster  made  him,  in  the  con- 
victions of  Taylor,  the  especial  favorite  of  his  wife.  McDuffie  was 
employed  in  his  defence,  and  he  made  a  most  triumphant  success 
against  evidence,  law,  and  justice.  His  speech  to  the  jury  was  most 
effective.  The  trial  had  called  to  Columbia  many  persons  connected 
with  the  family;  and  all  were  interested  to  save  from  an  ignominious 
death  their  relative.  This,  it  was  thought,  could  only  be  done  by  the 


F  I  F  T  Y     Y  E  A  R  S.  89 

sacrifice  of  the  wife's  reputation.  This  would  not  only  ruin  forever 
this  estimable  lady,  but  reflect  a  stain  upon  her  extensive  and 
respectable  connections.  She  was  appealed  to,  to  save  her  husband's 
life  with  the  sacrifice  of  her  fame.  In  the  consciousness  of  innocence, 
she  refused  with  Spartan  firmness  to  slander  her  reputation  by  stain- 
ing her  conscience  with  a  lie.  Her  friends  stood  by  her ;  and  when 
hope  had  withered  into  despair,  and  the  possibility  gone  forever  of 
saving  him  by  this  means,  the  eloquence  of  McDuffie  and  the  influ- 
ence of  family  were  invoked,  and  successfully. 

In  the  examination  of  the  witnesses  he  showed  great  tact,  and  suc- 
cessfully kept  from  the  jury  facts  which  would  have  left  them  no 
excuse  for  a  verdict  of  acquittal.  But  it  was  in  his  address  that  his 
great  powers  made  themselves  manifest.  The  opening  was  impas- 
sioned and  powerful.  Scarcely  had  he  spoken  ten  minutes  before 
the  Bench,  the  Bar,  the  jury,  and  the  audience  were  in  tears,  and, 
during  the  entire  speech,  so  entirely  did  he  control  the  feelings  of 
every  one  who  heard  him,  that  the  sobs  from  every  part  of  the  court- 
room were  audible  above  the  sounds  of  his  voice.  When  he  had 
concluded,  the  jury  went  weeping  from  the  box  to  the  room  of  their 
deliberations,  and  soon  returned  a  verdict  oflacquittal. 

This  effort  established  the  fame  of  McDuffie  as  an  orator  and  man 
of  great  mental  powers.  Fortunately  at  that  time  it  was  the  pride 
of  South  Carolina  to  call  to  her  service  the  best  talent  in  all  the  public 
offices,  State  and  national,  and  with  one  acclaim  the  people  de- 
manded his  services  in  Congress.  Mr.  Simpkins,  the  incumbent  from 
the  Edgefield  district,  declined  a  re-election,  that  his  legal  partner, 
Mr.  McDuffie,  might  succeed  him,  and  he  was  chosen  by  acclama- 
tion. He  came  in  at  a  time  when  talent  abounded  in  Congress,  and 
when  the  country  was  deeply  agitated  with  the  approaching  election 
for  President.  Almost  immediately  upon  his  entering  Congress  an 
altercation  occurred  upon  the  floor  of  the  House  between  him  and 
Mr.  Randolph,  which  resulted  in  the  discomfiture  of  Mr.  Randolph, 
causing  him  to  leave  the  House  in  a  rage,  with  the  determination  to 
challenge  McDuffie.  This,  however,  when  he  cooled,  he  declined 
to  do.  This  rencontre  of  wit  and  bitter  words  gave  rise  to  an 
amusing  incident  during  its  progress. 

Jack  Baker,  the  wag  and  wit  of  Virginia,  was  an  auditor  in  the 
gallery  of  the  House.  Randolph,  as  usual,  was  the  assailant,  and 
was  very  severe.  McDuffie  replied,  and  was  equally  caustic,  and 


90  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

this  to  the  astonishment  of  every  one ;  for  all  supposed  the  young 
member  was  annihilated  —  as  so  many  before  had  been  by  Ran- 
dolph—  and  would  not  reply.  His  antagonist  was  completely  taken 
aback,  and  evidently  felt,  with  Sir  Andrew  Ague-cheek:  "  Had  I 
known  he  was  so  cunning  of  fence,  I  had  seen  him  damned  ere 
I  had  fought  him."  But  he  was  in  for  it,  and  must  reply.  His 
rejoinder  was  angry,  and  wanting  in  his  usual  biting  sarcasm. 
McDuffie  rose  to  reply,  and,  pausing,  seemed  to  hesitate,  when  Baker 
from  the  gallery  audibly  exclaimed  :  "  Lay  on,  McDuff,  and  damned 
be  he  who  first  cries  hold,  enough  !  "  The  silence  which  pervaded 
the  chamber  was  broken  by  a  general  laugh,  greatly  disconcerting 
Randolph,  but  seeming  to  inspire  McDuffie,  who  went  on  in  a  strain 
of  vituperation  witheringly  pungent,  in  the  midst  of  which  Mr.  Ran- 
dolph left  his  seat  and  the  House.  Here  was  a  triumph  few  had 
enjoyed.  Not  even  Bayard,  in  his  famous  attack  upon  Randolph, 
when  the  latter  first  came  into  Congress,  had  won  so  much.  Every 
one  seemed  delighted.  The  newspapers  heralded  it  to  the  country, 
and  McDuffie  had  a  national  reputation.  Everything  seemed  propi- 
tious for  his  fame,  and  every  friend  of  Mr.  Calhoun  felt  that  he  had  a 
champion  in  his  protfgt,  who,  in  good  service,  would  retutn  him 
fourfold  for  his  noble  generosity  to  the  boy. 

The  contest  with  Gumming  whetted  more  sharply  the  edge  of 
the  animosity  between  Georgia  and  South  Carolina.  The  two 
were  considered  the  champions  of  their  respective  States,  as  also 
the  chosen  knights  of  their  respective  friends  —  Crawford  and  Cal- 
houn. The  States  and  the  friends  of  the  parties  in  this  quarrel  very 
soon  arrayed  themselves  in  antagonism,  which  was  made  personal  on 
many  occasions,  and  between  many  parties.  The  young  were  espe- 
cially prominent  in  their  demonstrations  of  hostile  feeling,  not 
excepting  the  belles  of  the  respective  States.  Between  them,  I 
believe,  it  never  went  beyond  words ;  but  they  were  frequent  in  con- 
flict, and  sometimes  very  bitter  and  very  witty  ones  escaped  from 
lovely  lips,  attesting  that  the  face  of  beauty  was  underlaid  with  pas- 
sion's deformity.  With  the  young  gallants  it  went  to  blows,  and, 
on  a  few  occasions,  to  more  deadly  strife ;  and  always  marred  the 
harmony  of  the  association  where  there  were  young  representatives 
of  both  States.  On  one  occasion  of  social  meeting  at  a  public  din- 
ner-party in  Georgia,  a  young  South  Carolinian  gave  as  a  sentiment : 
"George  McDuffie  — the  pride  of  South  Carolina."  This  was 


FIFTY     YEARS.  9! 

immediately  responded  to  by  Mirabeau  B.  Lamar,  the  late  President 
of  Texas,  who  was  then  young,  and  a  great  pet  of  his  friends,  with 
another:  "  Colonel  William  Gumming  — 

"The  man  who  England's  arms  defied, 

A  bar  to  base  designers; 
Who  checked  alike  old  Britain's  pride 
And  noisy  South  Carolina's." 

The  wit  of  the  impromptu  was  so  fine  and  the  company  so  appre- 
ciative, that,  as  if  by  common  consent,  all  enjoyed  it,  and  good  feel- 
ing was  not  disturbed. 

McDuffie  was  not  above  the  middle  size.  His  features  were  large 
and  striking,  especially  his  eyes,  forehead,  and  nose.  The  latter 
was  prominent  and  aquiline.  His  eyes  were  very  brilliant,  blue, 
and  deeply  set  under  a  massive  brow  —  his  mouth  large,  with  finely 
chiselled  lips,  which,  in  meeting,  always  wore  the  appearance  of 
being  compressed.  In  manners  he  was  retiring  without  being  awk- 
ward. His  temperament  was  nervous  and  ardent,  and  his  feelings 
strong.  His  manner  when  speaking  was  nervous  and  impassioned, 
and  at  times  fiercely  vehement,  and  again  persuasive  and  tenderly 
pathetic,  and  in  every  mood  he  was  deeply  eloquent. 

In  the  after  period  of  life  these  antagonists  were,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  a  noble-hearted  Hibernian,  reconciled,  and  sin- 
cerely so  —  both  regretting  the  past,  and  willing  to  bury  its  memory 
in  social  intimacy.  McDuffie  married  Miss  Singleton,  of  South 
Carolina,  one  of  the  loveliest  and  most  accomplished  ladies  of  the 
State. 

Owing  to  the  wound  received  in  the  duel  with  Gumming,  his  ner- 
vous system  suffered,  and  finally  his  brain.  The  ball  remained 
imbedded  in  the  spine,  and  pressed  upon  the  spinal  chord.  An 
attempt  to  remove  it,  the  surgeons  determined,  would  be  more 
hazardous  to  life  than  to  permit  it  to  remain.  There  was  no  remedy. 
From  its  effects  his  mind  began  to  decay,  and  finally  perished,  leav- 
ing him,  long  before  his  death,  a  melancholy  imbecile.  In  all  the 
relations  of  life  this  great  man  was  faithful  to  his  duties  —  a  devoted 
husband,  a  sincere  friend,  a  kind  neighbor,  and  a  considerate  and 
indulgent  master  to  his  slaves.  He  was  one  of  those  rare  creations 
for  which  there  is  no  accounting.  None  of  his  family  evinced  more 
than  very  ordinary  minds ;  nor  can  there  be  traced  in  his  ancestry 


92 


THE     MEMORIES     OF 


one  after  whom  his  nature  and  abilities  were  marked.  His  morals 
were  as  pure  and  elevated  as  his  intellect  was  grand  and  compre- 
hensive, and  his  soul  was  as  lofty  and  chivalrous  as  the  Chevalier 
Bayard's.  His  fame  is  too  broad  to  be  claimed  alone  by  South 
Carolina.  Georgia  is  proud  of  giving  him  birth,  and  the  nation 
cherishes  his  glory. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

FIFTY    YEARS    AGO. 

GOVERNOR  MATHEWS  —  INDIANS  —  TOPOGRAPHY  OF  MIDDLE  GEORGIA  —  A 
NEW  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  SETTLERS  —  BEAUX  AND  BELLES  — EARLY  TRAIN- 
ING— JESUIT  TEACHERS  —  A  MOTHER'S  INFLUENCE  —  THE  JEWS — HOMELY 
SPORTS  — THE  COTTON  GIN  —  CAMP-MEETINGS. 

T  IMMEDIATELY  subsequent  to  the  Revolution,  all  the  country 
J.  northwest  of  the  Ogeechee  River,  in  the  middle  portion  of  the 
State  of  Georgia,  was  divided  into  two  counties,  Franklin  and  Wilkes. 
It  was  a  wilderness,  and  contiguous  to  both  the  Creek  and  Cherokee 
Indian  nations.  No  country  in  the  world  was  more  beautiful  in  its 
topography,  and  few  more  fertile  in  soil.  Governor  Mathews  had 
purchased  a  home  in  this  region;  and  being  at  this  time  the  principal 
man  in  the  up-country,  attracted  to  his  neighborhood  the  emigrants 
who  began  to  come  into  the  country. 

Mathew's  Revolutionary  services  in  the  command  of  a  regiment 
in  the  Virginia  line  were  eminent ;  and  his  character  for  intrepidity 
naturally  made  him  a  leader  among  such  men  as  were  likely  to 
seek  and  make  homes  in  a  new  country. 

Surrounded  not  only  with  all  the  difficulties  presented  to  him  by  the 
unsubdued  wilderness,  but  the  perils  of  savage  warfare,  he  unflinch- 
ingly went  forward  in  his  enterprise,  daring  and  conquering  every 
obstacle  nature  and  the  savages  interposed.  He  was  an  uneducated 
man;  but  of  strong  mind,  ardent  temperament,  and  most  determined 
will.  Many  anecdotes  are  related  of  his  intrepidity,  self-respect,  and 
unbending  will.  He  was  a  native  of  Augusta  County,  Virginia,  and 
emigrated  to  Georgia  about  the  same  time  that  Elijah  Clarke  came 


F  I  F  T  Y     Y  E  A  R  S.  93 

from  North  Carolina  and  settled  in  that  portion  of  the  new  territory 
now  known  as  Clarke  County. 

These  two  remarkable  men  formed  a  nucleus  for  those  of  their 
respective  States  who  came  at  subsequent  periods  to  make  a  home 
in  Georgia.  They  were  models  to  the  youth  of  their  respective 
neighborhoods,  and  gave  tone  to  the  character  of  the  population  for 
many  years  after  they  were  in  their  graves.  About  the  same  time, 
the  Earlys  came  from  Virginia,  and  the  Abercrombies  from  North 
Carolina,  and  located  respectively  in  the  new  counties  of  Greene 
and  Hancock.  They  were  all  men  of  strong  character,  and  all 
exercised  great  influence  with  thqse  who  accompanied  or  came  to 
them  at  a  subsequent  period. 

Among  the  very  first  to  locate  in  Greene  County  was  Colonel  David 
Love,  from  North  Carolina,  and  soon  after  came  the  Nesbits,  Jack- 
sons,  and  Hortons ;  all  of  whom  settled  upon  the  head-waters  of  the 
Ogeechee  and  upon  Shoulderbone  Creek. 

The  country  was  very  attractive,  the  soil  very  generous,  the  water 
good,  and  the  health  remarkable.  The  general  topography  of 
Middle  Georgia  (as  that  portion  of  Georgia  is  now  termed)  is 
unsurpassed  by  any  other  portion  of  the  State  for  beauty  —  hill  and 
dale,  the  one  not  rising  many  feet  above  the  other,  generally  with 
beautiful  slopes,  and  scarcely  at  any  place  with  so  much  abruptness 
as  to  forbid  cultivation.  Upon  these  lovely  acclivities  were  built  the 
cabins  of  the  emigrants,  at  the  base  of  which,  and  near  the  house, 
was  always  to  be  found  a  fountain  of  pure,  sweet  water,  gushing  and 
purling  away  over  sand  and  pebbles,  meandering  through  a  valley 
which  it  fertilized,  and  which  abounds  in  shrubs  flowering  in  beauty, 
and  sheltered  by  forests  of  oak,  hickory,  pine,  and  gum. 

Those  who  first  came  were  frequently  compelled  to  unite  in  a  set- 
tlement at  some  selected  point,  and,  for  defence  against  the  inroads 
of  the  savages,  were  obliged  to  build  stockade  forts,  with  block- 
houses. 

Nature  seems  to  have  prepared,  during  the  Revolution,  men  for 
subduing  the  wilderness  and  its  savage  inhabitants.  They  cheerfully 
*•  encountered  all  the  difficulties  and  hazards  thus  presented,  and  con- 
stantly pursued  their  object  to  its  consummation.  They  came  from 
every  section  of  the  older  communities,  and  all  seemed  animated 
with  the  same  spirit.  They  were  orderly,  but  rude;  and  though 
beyond  the  pale  of  the  law,  they  were  a  law  unto  themselves ;  and 


94  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

these  laws  were  strictly  enforced  by  a  public  opinion  which  gave 
them  being  and  efficiency.  With  remarkably  simple  habits  and  very 
limited  opportunities,  their  wants  were  few ;  and  these  were  supplied 
by  their  own  industry  and  frugality  upon  the  farm.  Their  currency 
was  silver  coin,  Spanish  milled,  and  extremely  limited  in  quantity. 
The  little  trade  carried  on  was  principally  by  barter,  and  social 
intercourse  was  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  Sabbath.  ^The 
roads  were  rough  and  uneven,  consisting  almost  entirely  of  a  way 
sufficiently  wide  for  an  ox-cart  to  pass,  cut  through  the  forest,  where 
the  stumps  and  stones  remained ;  and  in  soft  or  muddy  places,  the 
bodies  of  small  trees  or  split  rails,  were  placed  side  by  side,  so  as  to 
form  a  sort  of  bridge  or  causeway,  so  rough  as  to  test  and  not 
unfrequently  to  destroy  the  wheels  of  the  rude  vehicles  of  the 
country.  These  obtained  and  to  this  day  receive  the  sobriquet  of 
Georgia  railroads  or  corduroy  turnpikes. 

Very  few  of  these  immigrants  were  independent  of  labor;  and  most 
of  them  devoted  six  days  of  the  week  to  the  cultivation  of  a  small 
farm  and  its  improvement.  Children  learned  early  to  assist  in  this 
labor,  and  those  who  were  sent  to  school,  almost  universally  employed 
the  Saturday  of  each  week  in  farm-work. 

Man's  social  nature  induces  aggregation  into  communities,  which 
stimulates  an  ambition  to  excel  in  every  undertaking.  From  this 
emulation  grows  excellence  and  progress  in  every  laudable  enter- 
prise. These  small  communities,  as  they  grew  from  accessions 
coming  into  the  country,  began  to  build  rude  places  for  public  wor- 
ship, 'which  were  primitive  log-cabins,  and  served  as  well  the  pur- 
poses of  a  school-house.  Here  the  adult  population  assembled  on 
the  Sabbath,  and  the  children  during  the  week.  This  intercourse, 
together  with  the  dependence  of  every  one  at  times  for  neighborly 
assistance,  was  greatly  promotive  of  harmony  and  mutual  confidence. 
Close  and  familiar  acquaintance  revealed  to  all  the  peculiar  charac- 
ter of  every  one  —  the  virtuous  and  the  vicious,  the  energetic  or  the 
indolent,  the  noble  and  the  ignoble  —  and  all  very  soon  came  to 
be  appreciated  according  to  their  merit. 

Rude  sports  constituted  the  amusements  of  the  young — wrestling, 
leaping,  and  hunting ;  and  he  who  was  most  expert  at  these  was  the 
neighborhood's  pride :  he  rode  from  church  with  the  prettiest  girl, 
and  was  sure  to  be  welcomed  by  her  parents  when  he  came ;  and  to 
be  selected  by  such  an  one  was  to  become  the  neighborhood's  belle. 


FIFTYYEARS.  95 

At  log-rollings,  quillings,  and  Saturday-night  frolics,  he  was  the  first 
and  the  most  admired. 

The  girls,  too,  were  not  without  distinction  —  she  who  could  spin 
the  greatest  number  of  cuts  of  cotton,  or  weave  the  greatest  number 
of  yards  of  cloth,  was  most  distinguished,  and  most  admired ;  but 
especially  was  she  distinguished  who  could  spin  and  weave  the 
neatest  fabric  for  her  own  wear,  of  white  cloth  with  a  turkey-red 
stripe  —  cut,  and  make  it  fit  the  labor-rounded  person  and  limbs — or 
make,  for  father's  or  brother's  wear,  the  finest  or  prettiest  piece  of 
jean  —  cook  the  nicest  dinners  for  her  beau,  or  dance  the  longest 
without  fatigue. 

The  sexes  universally  associated  at  the  same  school,  (a  system 
unfortunately  grown  out  of  use,)  and  grew  up  together  with  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  the  disposition,  temperament,  and  general  character  of 
each  other.  And,  as  assuredly  as  the  boy  is  father  to  the  man,  the 
girl  is  mother  to  the  woman ;  and  these  peculiarities  were  attractive 
or  repulsive  as  they  differed  in  individuals,  and  were  always  an  influ- 
ence in  the  selection  of  husbands  and  wives.  The  prejudices  of 
childhood  endure  through  life,  particularly  those  toward  persons. 
They  are  universally  predicated  upon  some  trait  of  manner  or  char- 
acter, and  these,  as  in  the  boy  perceived,  are  ever  prominent  in  the 
man.  So,  too,  with  the  girl,  and  they  only  grow  with  the  woman. 
This  is  a  paramount  reason  why  parties  about  contracting  marriage- 
alliances  should  be  well  aware  of  whom  they  are  about  to  select. 
The  consequence  of  this  intercommunication  of  the  sexes  from 
childhood,  in  the  primitive  days  of  Georgia's  first  settlement,  was 
seen  in  the  harmony  of  families.  In  the  age  which  followed,  a  sep- 
aration or  divorce  was  as  rare  as  an  earthquake ;  and  when  occurring, 
agitated  the  whole  community.  For  then  a  marriage  was  deemed  a 
life-union,  for  good  or  for  evil,  and  was  not  lightly  or  inconsider- 
ately entered  into. 

The  separation  of  the  sexes  in  early  youth,  and  especially  at 
school,  destroys  or  prevents  in  an  eminent  degree  the  restraining 
influences  upon  the  actions  of  each  other,  and  that  tender  desire  for 
the  society  of  each  other,  which  grows  from  childhood's  associations. 
Brought  together  at  school  in  early  life,  when  the  mind  and  soul  are 
receiving  the  impressions  which  endure  through  life,  they  naturally 
form  intimacies,  and  almost  always  special  partialities  and  preferences. 
Each  has  his  or  her  favorite,  these  partialities  are  usually  reciprocal, 


96  THEME  M  OKIES     OF 

and  their  consequence  is  a  desire  on  the  part  of  each  to  see  the  other 
excel.  To  accomplish  this,  children,  as  well  as  grown  people,  will 
make  a  greater  effort  than  they  will  simply  to  succeed  or  to  gratify 
a  personal  ambition  to  that  effect.  Thus  they  sympathize  with  and 
stimulate  each  other.  Every  Georgia  boy  of  fifty  years  ago,  with 
gray-head  and  tottering  step  now,  remembers  his  sweetheart,  for 
whom  he  carried  his  hat  full  of  peaches  to  school,  and  for  whom 
he  made  the  grape-vine  swing,  and  how  at  noon  he  swung  her  there. 

'T  is  bonny  May ;  and  I  to-day 

Am  wrinkled  seventy-four, 
Still  I  enjoy,  as  when  a  boy, 

Much  that  has  gone  before. 

Is  it  the  leaves  and  trees,  or  sheaves 

6f  yellow,  ripened  grain, 
Which  wake  to  me,  in  memory, 

My  boyhood's  days  again? 

These  seem  to  say  'tis  bonny  May, 

As  when  they  sweetly  grew, 
And  gave  their  yield,  in  wood  and  field, 

To  me,  when  life  was  new. 

But  nought  beside— ah,  woe  betide!  — 

Which  grew  with  me  is  here  — 
The  home,  the  hall,  the  mill,  the  all 

Which  young  life  holds  so  dear. 

The  school  -  house,  spring,  and  little  thing, 

With  eyes  so  bright  and  blue, 
Who'd  steal  away  with  me  and  play 

When  school's  dull  hours  were  through, 

Are  memories  now;  and  yet,  oh!  how 

It  seems  but  yesterday 
Since  I  was  there,  with  that  sweet  dear, 

In  the  wild  wood  at  play. 

The  hill  was  steep  where  we  would  leap; 

The  grape-vine  swing  hung  high, 
And  I  would  throw  the  swing  up  so 

That,  startled,  she  would  cry. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  97 

But  though  she  cried,  she  still  relied 

(And  seemed  to  have  no  fear) 
On  me  to  hold  the  swing,  and  told 

Me  "not  to  frighten  her." 

But  I  was  wild,  and  she  no  child, 

And  not  afraid,  I  deemed; 
So  tossed  as  high  the  swing  as  I 

Could  —  when  she  fell  and  screamed. 

She  was  not  harmed ;  but  I,  alarmed, 

Ran  quickly  to  assist, 
And  lifted  her,  all  pale  with  fear, 

Within  my  arms,  and  Vi«cd 

Her  pallid  cheek,  ere  she  could  speak: 

But  I  had  seen,  you  know, 
(Ah !  what  of  this  ?  that  sight  and  kiss 

Was  fifty  years  ago,) 

That  little  boot  and  pretty  foot, 

So  neatly  formed  and  small  — 
The  swelling  calf,  and  stifled  laugh  — 

How  I  remember  all ! 

That  lovely  one  has  long  since  gone, 

Is  dust,  and  only  dust,  now; 
Yet  I  recall  that  swing  and  fall, 

As  though  it  had  been  just  now. 

Take  these  lines,  reader,  if  you  please,  as  an  evidence  of  how  the 
memories  growing  out  of  the  associations  of  boyhood's  school-days 
endure  through  life.  This  association  of  the  sexes  operates  as  a 
restraint  upon  both,  salutary  to  good  conduct  and  good  morals. 
Such  restraints  are  far  more  effective  than  the  staid  lessons  of  some 
old,  wrinkled  duenna  of  a  school-mistress,  whose  failure  to  find  a 
sweetheart  in  girlhood,  or  a  husband  in  youthful  womanhood,  has 
soured  her  toward  every  man,  and  filled  her  with  hatred  for  the  hap- 
piness she  witnesses  in  wedded  life,  and  which  is  ever  present  all 
around  her.  Her  warnings  are  in  violation  of  nature.  She  has  for- 
gotten she  was  ever  young  or  inspired  with  the  feelings  and  hopes  of 
youth.  Men  are  monsters,  and  marriage  a  hell  upon  earth.  Girls 
9  G 


98  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

will  not  believe  this,  and  will  get  married.  How  much  better,  then, 
that  they  should  cultivate,  in  association,  the  generous  and  natural 
feelings  of  the  heart,  and  during  the  period  allotted  by  nature  for 
the  growth  of  the  feelings  natural  to  the  human  bosom,  as  well  as  to 
the  growth  of  the  person  and  mind,  than  to  be  told  what  they  should 
be  by  one  disappointed  of  all  the  fruits  of  them,  and  hating  the 
world  because  she  is !  It  is  the  mother  who  should  form  the  senti- 
ments and  direct  the  conduct  of  daughters,  and  in  their  teachings 
should  never  forget  that  nature  is  teaching  also.  Let  their  lessons 
always  teach  the  proper  indulgences  of  nature,  as  well  as  the  proper 
and  prudent  restraints  to  the  natural  feelings  of  the  human  heart,  and 
so  deport  themselves  toward  their  daughters  from  infancy  as  to  win 
their  confidence  and  affection.  The  daughters,  when  properly 
trained,  will  always  come  with  their  little  complaints  in  childhood, 
and  seek  consolation,  leaning  upon  the  parent's  knee,  and,  with 
solicitude,  look  up  into  the  parental  face  for  sympathy  and  advice. 
Home-teaching  and  home-training  makes  the  proper  woman.  When 
this  is  properly  attended  to,  there  needs  no  boarding-school  or 
female-college  finish,  which  too  frequently  uproots  every  virtuous 
principle  implanted  by  the  careful  and  affectionate  teaching  of  pious, 
gentle,  and  intelligent  mothers.  But  few  mothers,  who  are  them- 
selves properly  trained,  forget  nature  in  the  training  and  education 
of  their  daughters ;  and  a  truly  natural  woman  is  a  blessing  to  society 
and  a  crown  of  glory  to  her  husband.  I  mean  by  a  natural  training 
a  knowledge  of  herself,  as  well  as  a  knowledge  of  the  offices  of  life 
and  the  domestic  duties  of  home.  Every  woman  in  her  girlhood 
should  learn  from  her  mother  the  mission  and  destinies  of  woman, 
as  well  as  what  is  due  to  society,  to  their  families,  to  themselves,  and 
to  God.  The  woman  who  enters  life  with  a  knowledge  of  what  life 
is,  and  what  is  due  to  her  and  from  her  in  all  the  relations  of  life, 
has  a  thousand  chances  for  happiness  through  life  unknown  to  the 
belle  of  the  boarding-school,  who,  away  from  home  influences,  is 
artificially  educatsd  to  be  in  all  things  prominent  before  the  world, 
and  entirely  useless  in  the  discharge  of  domestic  duties.  She  may 
figure  as  the  lady-president  or  vice-president  of  charitable  associa 
ttons,  or  the  lady-president  of  some  prominent  or  useless  society ;  but 
never  as  a  dutiful,  devoted  wife,  or  affectionate,  instructive  mother  to 
her  children.  Her  household  is  managed  by  servants,  and  about  her 
home  nothing  evinces  the  neat,  provident,  and  attentive  housewife. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  99 

The  whole  system  of  education,  as  practised  by  the  Protestants  of 
the  United  States,  is  wrong;  religious  prejudice  prevents  their  learn- 
ing from  the  Catholics,  and  particularly  from  the  Jesuit  Catholics, 
who  are  far  in  advance  of  their  Protestant  brethren.  They  learn 
from  the  child  as  they  teach  the  child.  In  the  first  place,  none  are 
permitted  to  teach  who  are  not  by  nature,  as  well  as  by  education, 
qualified  to  teach;  nature  must  give  the  gentleness,  the  kindness,  and 
the  patience,  with  the  capacity  to  impart  instruction.  They  learn, 
first,  the  child's  nature,  the  peculiarities  of  temper,  and  fashion 
these  to  obedience  and  affection  ;  they  first  teach  the  heart  to  love — 
not  fear;  they  warn  against  the  evils  of  life  —  teach  the  good,  and 
the  child's  duties  to  its  parents,  to  its  brothers  and  sisters,  to  its 
teachers,  to  its  playmates,  and  to  its  God.  When  the  heart  is  mel- 
lowed and  yields  obedience  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  these  duties, 
and  the  brain  sufficiently  matured  to  comprehend  the  necessity  of 
them,  then  attention  is  directed  to  the  mind ;  its  capacities  are 
learned  and  known,  and  it  is  treated  as  this  knowledge  teaches  is 
proper:  it  is,  as  the  farmer  knows,  the  soil  of  his  cultivation,  and  is 
prepared  by  careful  tillage  before  the  seed  is  sown.  The  vision  of 
the  child's  mind  is  by  degrees  expanded  ;  the  horizon  of  its  knowl- 
edge is  enlarged,  and  still  the  heart's  culture  goes  on  in  kindness 
and  affection.  The  pupil  has  learned  to  love  the  teacher,  and 
receives  with  alacrity  his  teaching ;  he  goes  to  him,  without  fear, 
for  information  on  every  point  of  duty  in  morals,  as  on  every  diffi- 
cult point  of  literary  learning.  He  knows  he  will  be  received 
kindly,  and  derfk  with  gently.  Should  he  err,  he  is  never  rebuked 
in  public,  nor  harshly  in  private ;  the  teacher  is  aggrieved,  and  in 
private  he  kindly  complains  to  the  offender,  whose  love  for  his  pre- 
ceptor makes  him  to  feel,  and  repent,  and  to  err  no  more.  All  this 
i$  only  known  to  the  two;  his  school  -  fellows  never  know,  and 
have  no  opportunity  for  triumph  or  raillery.  Thus  taught  from  the 
cradle,  principles  become  habits ;  and  on  these,  at  maturity,  he  is 
launched  upon  the  world,  with  every  safeguard  for  his  future  life. 
So  with  the  girl.  With  the  experience  of  forty-five  years,  the  writer 
has  never  known  a  vicious,  bad  woman,  wife,  or  mother  trained  in  a 
Jesuit  convent,  or  reared  by  an  educated  Catholic  mother. 

The  daughters  of  the  pioneers  of  Georgia's  early  settlements 
received  a  home  education ;  at  least,  in  the  duties  of  domestic  life. 
In  the  discharge  of  these  duties,  they  gained  robust  constitutions  and 


I00  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

vigorous  health ;  they  increased  the  butcher's  bill  at  the  expense  of 
the  doctor's;  and  such  women  were  the  mothers  of  the  men  who 
have  made  a  history  for  their  country,  for  themselves  and  their 
mothers.  I  may  be  prolix  and  prosaic,  but  I  love  to  remember  the 
mothers  of  fifty  years  ago— she  who  gave  birth  to  Lucius  Q.  C. 
and  Mirabeau  B.  Lamar,  to  William  C.  Dawson,  Bishop  George 
Pierce,  Alexander  Stuart,  Joseph  Lumpkin,  and  glorious  Bob 
Toombs.  I  knew  them  all,  and,  with  affectionate  delight,  remem- 
ber their  virtues,  and  recall  the  social  hours  we  have  enjoyed 
together,  when  they  were  matrons,  and  I  the  companion  of  their 
sons.  And  now,  when  all  are  gone,  and  time  is  crowding  me  to  the 
grave,  the  nobleness  of  their  characters,  the  simplicity  of  their  bear- 
ing in  the  discharge  of  their  household  duties,  and  the  ingenuous- 
ness of  their  manners  in  social  intercourse,  is  a  cherished,  venerated 
memory.  None  of  these  women  were  ever  in  a  boarding-school, 
never  received  a  lesson  in  the  art  of  entering  a  drawing-room  or 
captivating  a  beau.  They  were  sensible,  modest,  and  moral  women, 
and  their  virtues  live  after  them  in  the  exalted  character  of  their 
illustrious  sons.  Their  literary  education  in  early  life  was,  of  neces- 
sity, neglected,  because  of  the  want  of  opportunities ;  but  in  the 
virtues  and  duties  of  life,  they  were  thoroughly  educated ;  and  none 
of  these,  or  any  of  their  like,  was  ever  Mrs.  President  or  Secretary 
of  any  pretentious  or  useless  society  or  association. 

The  little  education  or  literature  they  acquired  was  in  the  old  log 
school-house,  where  boys  and  girls  commingled  as  pupils  under  the 
teaching  of  some  honest  pedagogue,  who  aspired  to  teach  only  read- 
ing, writing,  and  arithmetic,  in  a  simple  way.  It  must  not  be  sup- 
posed, from  the  foregoing  remarks,  that  I  object  to  female  educa- 
tion ;  on  the  contrary,  I  would  have  every  woman  an  educated 
woman.  But  I  would  have  this  education  an  useful  and  proper  edu- 
cation; one  not  wholly  ornamental  and  of  no  practical  use,  but 
one  obtained  at  home,  and  under  the  parental  care  and  influence  — 
such  an  one  as  made  Mrs.  Ripley,  of  Concord,  Massachusetts, 
the  wonder  and  admiration  of  every  sensible  man.  She  who  studied 
La  Place's  Mecanique  Clleste  when  she  was  making  biscuit  for  her 
breakfast,  and  who  solved  a  problem  in  the  higher  mathematics  when 
darning  her  stockings ;  an  education  where  the  useful  may  be  taught 
and  learned  to  grace  the  ornamental — where  the  harp  and  piano 
shall  share  with  the  needle  and  the  cooking-stove,  and  the  pirouettes 


FIFTY     YEARS.  IOI 

of  the  dancing-master  shall  be  only  a  step  from  the  laundry  and  the 
kitchen. 

The  duties  of  wives  and  mothers  are  to  home,  husband,  and  chil- 
dren ;  and  this  includes  all  of  woman's  duty  to  the  country,  and  in 
the  intelligent  and  faithful  discharge  of  which  the  great  ends  of  life 
are  subserved.  Good  neighborhood,  good  government,  and  happy 
communities  secure  the  implanting  and  cultivation  of  good  princi- 
ples, and  the  proper  teaching  of  proper  duties.  The  wise  direction 
of  literary  education  to  sons  and  to  daughters,  all  comes  within  the 
range  of  home,  and  home  duties  especially  incumbent  upon  mothers. 
The  domestic  duties  and  domestic  labors  should  be  a  prime  con- 
sideration in  the  education  of  daughters.  The  association  of  the 
mother  and  child  from  birth,  until  every  principle  which  is  to  guide 
and  govern  it  through  life  is  implanted,  makes  it  the  duty  of  the 
mother  to  know  the  right,  and  to  teach  it,  too.  Example  and  pre- 
cept should  combine  ;  and  this  necessity  compels  a  constant  watch, 
not  only  over  the  child's,  but  over  the  mother's  language  and  con- 
duct. All  these  duties  imply  a  close  devotion  to  home  :  for  here  is 
the  germ  which  is  to  grow  into  good  or  into  evil,  as  it  is  nursed  and 
cultivated,  or  wickedly  neglected.  Begin  at  the  beginning,  if  you 
would  accomplish  well  your  work  ;  and  to  do  this,  application  and 
assiduity  are  indispensable  ;  and  these  are  duties  only  to  be  dis- 
charged at  home.  They  admit  of  a  relaxation  of  time  sufficient  for 
every  social  duty  exacted  by  society,  if  that  society  is  such  as  it 
should  be;  and  if  not,  it  should  neither  occupy  time  nor  attention. 

In  this  is  comprised  all  woman's  duties,  and  they  are  paramount ; 
for  upon  their  successful  application  depend  the  well  -  being  of 
society  and  the  proper  and  healthful  administration  of  wise  and 
salutary  laws.  The  world  is  indebted  to  woman  for  all  that  is  good 
and  great.  Let  every  woman  emulate  Cornelia,  the  Roman  mother, 
and,  when  a  giddy,  foolish  neighbor  runs  to  her  to  exhibit  newly 
purchased  jewels,  be  found,  like  the  Roman  matron,  at  her  tambour- 
work  ;  and  like  her,  too,  when  her  boys  from  school  shall  run  to 
embrace  her,  say  to  the  thoughtless  one,  "  These  are  my  jewels  !  "  ' 
and  Rome  will  not  alone  boast  of  her  Gracchi  and  their  incompara- 
ble mother. 

The  duties  of  home  cultivate  reflection  and  stimulate  to  virtue. 
For  this  reason,  women  are  more  pious  than  men  ;    and  for  this 
reason,  too,  they  are  more  eminent  in  purity.      Contact  with  the 
9* 


IO2  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

domestic  circle  does  not  contaminate  or  corrupt,  as  the  baser  contact 
with  the  world  is  sure  to  do. 

The  home  circle  is  select  and  chaste  —  the  promiscuous  inter- 
mingling with  the  world  meretricious  and  contaminating.  The 
mother  not  trained  to  the  appreciation  and  discharge  of  the  domestic 
duties,  was  never  the  mother  of  a  great  representative  mind ;  because 
she  is  incapable  of  imparting  those  stern  principles  of  exalted 
morality  and  fixity  of  purpose  essential  in  forming  the  character  of 
such  men.  The  mother  of  Cincinnatus  was  a  farmer's  wife ;  of 
Leonidas,  a  shepherdess ;  and  the  mothers  of  Washington,  Webster, 
Clay,  Calhoun,  William  H.  Crawford,  and  Andrew  Jackson  were  all 
the  wives  of  farmers  —  rural  and  simple  in  their  pursuits,  distin- 
guished for  energy  and  purity;  constant  in  their  principles,  and 
devoted  to  husband,  home,  and  children.  They  never  dreamed  it 
was  woman's  vocation  or  duty  to  go  out  into  the  world  and  mingle  in 
its  strifes  and  contentions  —  but  at  home,  to  view  them,  reflect  upon 
their  consequences  to  society,  and  upon  the  future  of  their  sons  and 
daughters,  and  warn  them  what  to  emulate  and  what  to  shun.  They, 
as  did  their  husbands,  felt  the  necessity  of  preserving  that  delicacy 
of  thought  and  action  which  is  woman's  ornament,  and  which  is 
more  efficient  in  rebuking  licentiousness  and  profligacy  in  the  young 
and  the  old  than  all  the  teachingfrof  the  schools  without  such  exam- 
ple. Such  were  the  mothers  of  the  great  and  the  good  of  our  land, 
and  such  the  mothers  of  those  men  now  prominent  and  distinguished 
in  the  advocacy  and  support  of  the  great  principles  of  natural  rights 
and  humanity. 

It  is  a  mooted  question  whether  the  purposes  of  human  life 
demand  a  high,  classical  education  among  the  masses  ;  or  whether 
the  general  happiness  is  promoted  by  such  education.  In  the  study 
of  the  human  mind  in  connection  with  human  wants,  we  are  con- 
tinually met  with  difficulties  arising  from  the  want  of  education  ;  and 
quite  as  frequently  with  those  resulting  from  education.  So  much 
so,  that  we  hear  from  every  wise  man  the  declaration  that  as  many 
minds  are  ruined  by  over-education  as  from  the  want  of  education. 

Man's  curse  is  to  labor.  This  labor  must  of  necessity  be  divided 
to  subserve  the  wants  of  society  —  and  common  sense  would  teach 
that  each  should  be  educated  as  best  to  enable  him  to  perform  that 
labor  which  may  fall  to  his  lot  in  life.  But  who  shall  determine  this 
lot?  Every  day's  experience  teaches  the  observant  and  thinking 


FIFTY     YEARS.  103 

man  that  no  one  individual  is  uselessly  born.  To  deny  this  propo- 
sition would  be  to  call  in  question  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the 
Creator.  Every  one  possesses  proclivities  for  some  one  avocation, 
and  should  be  educated  for  its  pursuit.  This  is  manifested  in  very 
early  life ;  in  some  much  more  palpably  than  in  others.  This  is 
always  the  case  when  the  aptitude  is  decisive.  In  such  cases  this 
idiosyncrasy  will  triumph  over  every  adverse  circumstance,  educa- 
tional or  otherwise ;  but  in  the  less  palpable,  it  will  not ;  and  the 
design  of  nature  may,  and  indeed  constantly  is,  disappointed,  and 
improper  education  and  improper  pursuits  given.  In  these  pursuits 
or  callings,  the  person  thus  improperly  placed  there  never  succeeds 
as  he  would  had  his  bent  or  mental  inclination  been  observed,  and 
his  education  directed  to  it,  and  he  given  to  its  pursuit.  Such  per- 
sons labor  through  life  painfully ;  they  have  no  taste  or  inclination 
for  the  profession,  business,  or  trade  in  which  they  are  engaged  ;  its 
pursuit  is  an  irksome,  thankless  labor ;  while  he  who  has  fallen  into 
nature's  design,  and  is  working  where  his  inclinations  lead,  labors 
happily,  because  he  labors  naturally.  These  inclinations  the  parent 
or  guardian  should  observe  ;  and  when  manifested,  should  direct  the 
education  for  the  calling  nature  has  designed.  Idiosyncrasies  are 
transmissible  or  inherited.  In  old  and  populous  communities,  where 
every  pursuit  or  profession  is  full,  the  father  generally  teaches  his 
own  to  his  son  or  sons.  Where  this  has  extended  through  three  or 
four  generations,  the  proclivity  is  generally  strongly  marked,  and  in 
very  early  childhood  made  manifest.  Thus,  in  the  third  or  fourth 
generation,  where  all  have  been  blacksmiths,  the  child  will  be  born 
with  the  muscles  of  the  right  arm  more  developed  than  those  of  the 
left,  and  the  first  plaything  he  demands  is  a  hammer.  So,  where  a 
family  have  been  traders,  will  the  offspring  naturally  discover  an 
aptness  for  bargaining  and  commerce.  This  is  illustrated  in  the 
instincts  of  the  Jews,  a  people  of  extraordinary  brain  and  wonder- 
ful tenacity  of  purpose.  Five  thousand  years  since,  a  small  fragment 
of  the  Semitic  race,  residing  in  Mesopotamia  between  the  waters  of 
the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris,  consisting  of  two  families,  came  into 
the  land  of  Canaan,  in  Asia  Minor ;  from  them  have  descended  the 
people  known  as  Jews.  The  country  over  which  they  spread,  and 
which  is  known  as  Judea,  is  not  more  than  four  hundred  miles  long 
by  two  hundred  and  fifty  in  breadth,  situated  between  two  populous 
and  powerful  empires,  the  Assyrian  and  Egyptian,  who,  waging  war 


104  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

too  frequently,  made  the  land  of  Judea  their  battle  -  field,  and  its 
people  the  objects  of  persecution  and  oppression.  The  earnings  of 
their  labor  were  deemed  legitimate  prey  by  both,  and  taken  wherever 
found :  they  were  led  into  captivity  by  the  Assyrians  and  by  the 
Egyptians,  enslaved,  and  denied  the  legal  right  to  possess  the  soil  — 
which,  to  the  everlasting  disgrace  of  Christian  Europe,  was  a  restric- 
tion upon  this  wonderful  people  until  within  the  present  century.  A 
blind  bigotry  would  have  blotted  them  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  but 
for  that  energy,  talent,  and  enterprise  possessed  by  them  in  a  superior 
degree  to  any  people  upon  the  globe.  Inspired  by  a  sublime  belief 
that  they  were  the  chosen  people  of  God,  no  tyranny  nor  oppression 
could  subdue  their  energies.  They  prayed  and  labored,  went  for- 
ward with  untiring  determination,  upheld  by  their  faith,  and  always, 
under  the  direst  distress,  found  comfort  from  this  belief  and  the  fruits 
of  incessant  labor.  The  soil  of  their  loved  Canaan  was  barren,  and 
yielded  grudgingly  to  the  most  persistent  labor.  This  drove  them  to 
trade,  and  an  extended  intercourse  with  the  world.  Without  a  national 
government  of  sufficient  power  to  protect  them  when  robbed  by  the 
people  or  the  governments  surrounding  their  own,  they  were  com- 
pelled, for  self-protection,  to  resort  to  every  means  of  concealing  the 
earnings  of  their  enterprise  and  superior  knowledge  and  skill  from 
Christian  and. pagan  alike.  They  gave  value  to  the  diamond,  that 
in  a  small  stone,  easy  of  concealment,  immense  wealth  might  be 
hidden.  They  invented  the  bill  of  exchange,  by  which  they  could 
at  pleasure  transfer  from  one  country  to  another  their  wealth,  and 
avoid  the  danger  of  spoliation  from  the  hand  of  power  and  intoler- 
ance. Without  political  or  civil  rights  in  any  but  their  own  country, 
they  were  compelled  to  the  especial  pursuit  of  commerce  for  centu- 
ries, and  we  now  see  that  seven-tenths  of  all  Jews  born,  as  naturally 
turn  to  trade  and  commerce  as  the  infant  to  the  breast.  It  has 
become  an  instinct. 

To  these  persecutions  the  world  is  probably  indebted  for  the 
developments  of  commerce  — the  bringing  into  communication  the 
nations  of  the  earth  for  the  exchange  of  commodities  necessary  to 
the  use  and  comfort  of  each  other,  not  of  the  growth  or  production 
of  each,  enlarging  the  knowledge  of  all  thus  communicating,  and 
teaching  that  civilization  which  is  the  enlightenment  and  the  bless- 
ing of  man  — ameliorating  the  savage  natures  of  all,  and  teaching 
that  all  are  of  God,  and  equally  the  creatures  of  His  love  and  pro- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  IO5 

tection  ;  and  leading  also  to  that  development  of  mind  in  the  Israelite 
which  makes  him  conspicuous  to-day  above  any  other  race  in  the  great 
attributes  of  mind — directing  the  policy  of  European  governments  — 
first  at  the  Bar,  first  in  science,  first  in  commerce,  first  in  wealth  — 
preserving  the  great  traits  of  nationality  without  a  nation,  and  giving 
tone,  talent,  wealth,  and  power  to  all. 

A  few  men  only  are  born  to  think.  Their  minds  expand  with 
education,  and  their  usefulness  is  commensurate  with  it.  This  few 
early  evince  a  proclivity  so  strong  for  certain  avocations  as  to  enable 
those  who  have  the  direction  of  their  future  to  educate  them  for  this 
pursuit.  This  proclivity  frequently  is  so  overpowering  as  to  prompt 
the  possessor,  when  the  early  education  has  been  neglected,  to  edu- 
cate himself  for  this  especial  idiosyncrasy.  This  was  the  case  with 
Newton — with  Stevenson,  the  inventor  of  the  locomotive-engine, 
who,  at  twenty  years  of  age,  was  ignorant  even  of  his  letters.  Ark- 
wright  was  a  barber,  and  almost  entirely  illiterate  when  he  invented 
the  spinning-jenny.  Train,  the  inventor  of  the  railroad,  was,  at  the 
time  of  its  invention,  a  coal-heaver,  and  entirely  illiterate. 

These  cases  are  rare,  however.  The  great  mass  of  mankind  are 
born  to  manual  labor,  and  only  with  capacities  suited  for  it.  To 
attempt  to  cultivate  such  minds  for  eminent  purposes  would  be  folly. 
Even  supposing  they  could  be  educated  —  which  is  scarcely  sup- 
posable,  for  it  would  seem  a  contravention  of  Heaven's  fiat  —  they 
could  no  more  apply  this  learning,  which  would  simply  be  by  rote, 
than  they  could  go  to  the  moon.  Such  men  are  not  unfrequently 
met  with,  and  are  designated,  by  common  consent,  learned  fools. 
Nature  points  out  the  education  they  should  receive.  In  like  manner 
with  those  of  higher  and  nobler  attributes,  educate  them  for  their 
pursuits  in  life.  It  requires  not  the  same  education  to  hold  a  plough, 
or  drive  an  ox,  that  it  does  to  direct  the  course  of  a  ship  through  a 
trackless  sea,  or  to  calculate  an  eclipse ;  and  what  is  essential  to  the 
one  is  useless  to  the  other. — But  I  am  wandering  away  from  the  pur- 
pose of  this  work.  Turning  back  upon  the  memories  of  fifty  years 
ago,  and  calling  up  the  lives  and  the  histories  of  men,  and  women 
too,  I  have  known,  I  was  led  into  these  reflections,  and  ere  I  was 
aware  they  had  stolen  from  my  pen. 

The  rude  condition  of  a  country  is  always  imparted  to  the  charac- 
ter of  its  people,  and  out  of  this  peculiarity  spring  the  rough  sports 
and  love  of  coarse  jokes  and  coarse  humor.  No  people  ever  more 


106  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

fully  verified  this  truth  than  the  Georgians,  and  to-day,  even  among 
her  best  educated,  the  love  of  fun  is  a  prevailing  trait.  Her  tradi- 
tions are  full  of  the  practical  jokes  and  the  practical  jokers  of  fifty 
years  ago.  The  names  of  Dooly,  Clayton,  Prince,  Bacon,  and 
Longstreet  will  be  remembered  in  the  traditions  of  fun  as  long  as 
the  descendants  of  their  compatriots  continue  to  inhabit  the  land. 
The  cock-fight,  the  quarter-race,  and  the  gander-pulling  are  tradi- 
tions now,  and  so  is  the  fun  they  gave  rise  to ;  and  I  had  almost  said, 
so  is  the  honesty  of  those  who  were  participants  in  these  rude  sports. 
Were  they  not  more  innocent  outlets  to  the  excessive  energies  of  a 
mercurial  and  fun-loving  people  than  the  faro-table  and  shooting- 
gallery  of  to-day  ?  Every  people  must  have  their  amusements  and 
sports,  and  these,  unrestrained,  will  partake  of  the  character  of  the 
people  and  the  state  of  society.  Sometimes  the  narrow  prejudices 
of  bigoted  folly  will  inveigh  against  these,  and  insist  upon  their 
restraint  by  law ;  and  these  laws,  in  many  of  the  States,  remain  upon 
the  statute-book  a  rebuking  evidence  of  the  shameless  folly  of  fanat- 
ical ignorance.  Of  these,  the  most  conspicuous  are  the  blue-laws  of 
Connecticut,  and  the  more  absurd  and  criminal  laws  of  Massachusetts 
against  amusements  not  only  necessary,  but  healthful  and  innocent. 
Even  in  the  present  advanced  state  of  knowledge  and  civilization, 
do  we  occasionally  hear  ranted  from  the  pulpit  denunciations  of 
dancing,  as  a  sinful  and  God-offending  amusement.  Such  men 
should  not  be  permitted  to  teach  or  preach  —  it  is  to  attenuate  folly 
and  fanaticism,  to  circumscribe  the  happiness  of  youth,  and  belie 
the  Bible. 

The  emigrants  to  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Georgia  were  all  per- 
sons of  like  character,  combining  a  mixture  of  English,  Irish,  and 
Scotch  blood.  They  were  enterprising,  daring,  and  remarkable  for 
great  good  sense.  Rude  from  the  want  of  education  and  association 
with  a  more  polished  people,  they  were  nevertheless  high-principled 
and  full  of  that  chivalrous  spirit  which  prompts  a  natural  courtesy, 
courts  danger,  and  scorns  the  little  and  mean  —  open-handed  in 
their  generosity,  and  eminently  candid  and  honest  in  all  their  inter- 
course and  dealings  with  their  fellow-men.  These  elements,  col- 
lected from  various  sections,  combined  to  form  new  communities  in 
the  wild  and  untamed  regions.  In  their  conflicts  with  the  savages 
were  shown  a  daring  fearlessness  and  a  high  order  Of  military  talent 
in  very  many  of  the  prominent  leaders  of  the  different  settlements. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  IO7 

They  had  no  chronicler  to  note  and  record  their  exploits,  and  they 
exist  now  only  in  the  traditions  of  the  country. 

The  names  of  Shelby  and  Kenton,  of  Kentucky ;  of  Davidson 
and  Jackson,  of  Tennessee;  of  Clarke,  Mathews,  and  Adams,  of 
Georgia;  Dale,  of  Alabama,  and  Claiborne,  of  Mississippi,  live  in 
the  memory  of  the  people  of  their  States,  together  with  those  of 
Tipton,  Sevier,  Logan,  and  Boone,  and  will  be  in  the  future  history 
of  these  States,  with  their  deeds  recorded  as  those  whose  enterprise, 
energy,  and  fearlessness  won  from  the  wilderness  and  the  savage 
their  fertile  and  delightful  lands,  to  be  a  home  and  a  country  for 
their  posterity. 

The  children  of  such  spirits  intermarrying,  could  but  produce 
men  of  talent  and  enterprise,  and  women  of  beauty,  intelligence,  and 
virtue.  In  the  veins  of  these  ran  only  streams  of  blue  blood — such 
as  filled  the  veins  of  the  leaders  of  the  Crusades — such  as  warmed 
the  hearts  of  the  O'Neals  and  O'Connors,  of  Wallace  and  Bruce, 
and  animated  the  bosoms  of  the  old  feudal  barons  of  England,  who 
extorted  the  great  charter  of  human  liberty  from  King  John.  There 
was  no  mixture  of  the  pale  Saxon  to  taint  or  dilute  the  noble  current 
of  the  Anglo-Norman  blood  which  flowed  through  and  fired  the 
hearts  of  these  descendants  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  Britain. 
They  were  the  cavaliers  in  chivalry  and  daring,  and  despised,  as 
their  descendants  despised,  the  Roundheads  and  their  descendants, 
with  their  cold,  dissembling  natures,  hypocritical  in  "religion  as 
faithless  in  friendship,  without  one  generous  emotion  or  ennobling 
sentiment. 

It  is  not  remarkable  that  conflict  should  ensue  between  races  so 
dissimilar  in  a  struggle  to  control  the  Government:  tme  to  the 
instincts  of  race,  each  contended  for  that  which  best  suited  their 
genius  and  wants ;  and  not  at  all  remarkable  that  all  the  generous 
gallantry  in  such  a  conflict  should  be  found  with  the  Celt,  and  all 
the  cruel  rapacity  and  meanness  with  the  Saxon.  Their  triumph, 
through  the  force  of  numbers,  was  incomplete,  until  their  enemies  were 
tortured  by  every  cruelty  of  oppression,  and  the  fabric  of  the  Gov- 
ernment dashed  to  atoms.  This  triumph  can  only  be  temporary. 
The  innate  love  of  free  institutions,  universal  in  the  heart  of  the  Celtic 
Southerner,  will  yet  unite  all  the  races  to  retrieve  the  lost.  This  done, 
victory  is  certain. 

The  descendants  of  these  pioneers  have  gone  out  to  people  the 


108  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

extended  domain  reaching  around  the  Gulf,  and  are  growing  into 
strength,  without  abatement  of  the  spirit  of  their  ancestors.  Very 
soon  time  and  their  energies  will  repair  the  disasters  of  the  recent 
conflict ;  and  reinvigorated,  the  shackles  of  the  Puritan  shall  restrain 
no  longer,  when  a  fierce  democracy  shall  restore  the  Constitution, 
and  with  it  the  liberty  bequeathed  by  their  ancestors. 

With  this  race,  fanaticism  in  religion  has  never  known  a  place. 
Rational  and  natural,  they  have  ever  worshipped  with  the  heart  and 
the  attributes  of  their  faith.  Truth,  sincerity,  love,  and  mercy  have 
ever  marked  their  characters.  Too  honest  to  be  superstitious,  and 
too  sincere  to  be  hypocrites,  the  concentrated  love  of  freedom 
unites  the  race,  and  the  hatred  of  tyranny  will  stimulate  the  blood 
which  shall  retrieve  it  from  the  dominion  of  the  baser  blood  now 
triumphant  and  rioting  in  the  ruin  they  have  wrought. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  settlements,  and  as  soon  as  fears  of  the 
inroads  from  the  savages  had  subsided,  attention  was  given  to  the 
selection  of  separate  and  extended  homes  over  the  country,  to  the 
opening  of  farms,  and  their  cultivation.  The  first  consideration  was 
food  and  raiment.  All  of  this  was  to  be  the  production  of  the 
farm  and  home  industry :  grain  enough  was  to  be  grown  to  serve 
the  wants  of  the  family  for  bread,  and  to  feed  the* stock;  for  this 
was  to  furnish  the  meat,  milk,  and  butter.  Cotton  enough  to  serve 
the  wants  of  families,  together  with  the  wool  from  the  flock,  and 
some  flax,  were  of  prime  consideration.  All  of  this  was  prepared 
and  manufactured  into  fabrics  for  clothing  and  bedding  at  home. 
The  seed  from  the  cotton  was  picked  by  hand  ;  for,  as  yet,  Whit- 
ney had  not  given  them  the  cotton-gin.  This  work  was  imposed 
most  generally  upon  the  children  of  families,  white  and  black,  as  a 
task  at  night,  and  which  had  to  be  completed  before  going  to  bed ; 
an  ounce  was  the  usual  task,  which  was  weighed  and  spread  before 
the  fire ;  for  it  was  most  easily  separated  from  the  seed  when  warm 
and  dry.  Usually  some  petty  rewards  stimulated  the  work.  In 
every  family  it  was  observed  and  commented  upon,  that  these  re- 
wards excited  the  diligence  of  the  white  children,  but  were  without 
a  corresponding  effect  upon  the  black ;  and  any  one  who  has  ever 
controlled  the  negro  knows  that  his  labor  is  only  in  proportion  to 
the  coercion  used  to  enforce  it.  His  capacity,  physically,  is  equal 
to  the  white ;  but  this  cannot  be  bought,  or  he  persuaded  to  exert  it 
of  himself,  and  is  given  only  through  punishment,  or  the  fear  of  it 


FIFTY     YEARS. 

The  removal  of  restraint  is  to  him  a  license  to  laziness ;  and  the 
hope  of  reward,  or  the  cravings  of  nature,  will  only  induce  him  to 
labor  sufficiently  to  supply  these  for  immediate  and  limited  relief. 

Stock  of  every  kind  except  horses  was  left  to  find  a  support  in  the 
forest,  and  at  that  time,  when  their  range  was  unlimited,  they  found 
it  in  abundance.  Increasing  wants  stimulated  the  cultivation  of  a 
market  crop  to  supply  them,  and  indigo  and  tobacco  were  first 
resorted  to.  Tobacco  was  the  principal  staple,  and  the  method  of 
its  transportation  was  extraordinary.  As  at  the  present  day  in  Ken- 
tucky, it  was  pressed  into  very  large  hogsheads.  Upon  these  were 
pinned  large  wooden  felloes,  forming  the  circle  of  a  wheel  around 
the  hogshead  at  either  end,  and  in  the  centre  of  each  head  a  large 
pin  was  inserted.  Upon  these  pins  were  attached  shafts  or  thills,  as 
to  a  cart,  and  to  these  teams,  and  thus  the  hogshead  was  rolled  along 
rough  roads  and  through  streams  for  sometimes  ninety  miles  to 
Augusta,  for  a  market.  When  sold,  the  shafts  were  reserved,  and 
upon  these  was  then  erected  a  sort  of  box,  into  which  the  few  articles 
purchased  were  placed,  and  dragged  home.  These  articles  almost 
universally  consisted  of  some  iron  and  steel,  and  a  little  coffee  and 
sugar,  and  sometimes  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  tea  —  universally 
termed  store-tea,  to  distinguish  it  from  that  made  from  the  root  of 
the  sassafras  and  the  leaf  of  the  cassia  or  tepaun-bush. 

Cotton  was,  to  some  little  extent,  cultivated  near  the  seaboard  in 
Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  and  cleaned  of  the  seeds  by  a  machine 
similar  to  that  used  at  the  present  day  for  preparing  the  sea-island 
cotton  for  market.  This  was  a  tedious  and  troublesome  method, 
and  was  incapable  of  doing  the  work  to  any  very  great  extent. 
Indigo,  of  a  superior  quality  to  the  American,  was  being  produced  in 
British  India  and  Central  America,  and  the  competition  was  reducing 
the  price  to  the  cost  of  production.  The  same  difficulty  attended 
the  growing  of  tobacco.  Virginia  and  Maryland,  with  their  abund- 
ance of  labor,  were  competing,  and  cheapening  the  article  to  a  price 
which  made  its  production  unprofitable.  At  this  juncture,  Whitney 
invented  the  cotton-gin,  and  the  growth  of  cotton  as  a  marketable 
crop  commenced  upon  a  more  extended  scale.  In  a  few  years  it 
became  general  —  each  farmer  growing  more  or  less,  according  to 
his  means.  Some  one  man,  most  able  to  do  so,  erected  a  gin-house, 
first  in  a  county,  then  in  each  neighborhood.  These  either  pur- 
chased in  the  seed  the  cotton  of  their  neighbors,  or  ginned  it  and 


IIO  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

packed  it  for  a  certain  amount  of  toll  taken  from  the  cotton.  This 
packing  was  done  in  round  bales,  and  by  a  single  man,  with  a  heavy 
iron  bar,  and  was  a  most  laborious  and  tedious  method  ;  and  the 
packages  were  in  the  most  inconvenient  form  for  handling  and  trans- 
portation. 

Up  to  this  time  the  slave-trade  had  been  looked  upon  most  unfa- 
vorably by  the  people  of  the  South.  Among  the  first  sermons  I 
remember  to  have  heard,  was  one  depicting  the  horrors  of  this  trade. 
I  was  by  my  grandmother's  side  at  Bethany,  in  Greene  county,  and, 
though  a  child,  I  remember,  as  if  of  yesterday,  the  description  of 
the  manner  of  capturing  the  African  in  his  native  wilds  —  how  the 
mother  and  father  were  murdered,  and  the  boys  and  the  girls  borne 
away,  and  how  England  was  abused  for  the  cruel  inhumanity  of  the 
act.  Although  unused  to  the  melting  mood,  the  old  lady  wiped 
from  her  eyes  a  tear,  whether  in  sorrow  or  sympathy  for  outraged 
humanity,  or  in  compliment  to  the  pathos  and  power  of  her  favorite 
preacher,  I  was  too  young  to  know  or  have  an  opinion.  I  remem- 
ber well,  however,  that  she  cried,  for  she  pinched  me  most  unmer- 
cifully for  laughing  at  her,  and  at  home  spanked  me  for  crying. 
Dear  old  grandmother !  but  yesterday  I  was  at  your  grave,  where 
you  have  slept  fifty-two  years,  and  if  I  laughed  above  thy  mould  at 
the  memory  of  the  many  bouts  we  had  more  than  sixty  years  ago, 
and,  from  the  blue  bending  above,  thy  spirit  looked  down  in  wrath 
upon  the  unnatural  outrage,  be  appeased  ere  I  come ;  for  I  should 
fear  to  meet  thee,  even  in  heaven,  if  out  of  humor!  The  roses 
bloomed  above  you — sweet  emblems  of  thy  purity  and  rest  —  and 
there,  close  by  you,  were  the  pear-trees,  planted  by  your  hands, 
around  the  roots  of  which  you  gathered  the  rods  of  my  reformation ; 
for  I  was  a  truant  child.  You  meant  it  all  for  my  good,  no  doubt ; 
but  to  me  it  was  passing  through  purgatory  then,  to  merit  a  future 
good  in  time.  Ah  !  how  well  I  remember  it  —  all  of  it.  Requiescat 
in  pace.  I  had  almost  irreverently  said,  "Rest,  cat,  in  peace." 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  competition  for  accumulating  money 
may  be  said  to  have  commenced  in  Middle  Georgia.  Labor  became 
in  great  demand,  and  the  people  began  to  look  leniently  upon  the 
slave-trade.  The  marching  of  Africans,  directly  imported,  through 
the  country  for  sale,  is  a  memory  of  sixty-five  years  ago.  The 
demand  had  greatly  increased,  and,  with  this,  the  price.  The  trade 
was  to  cease  in  1808,  and  the  number  brought  over  was  daily  aug- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  Ill 

menting,  to  hasten  to  make  from  the  traffic  as  much  money  as  pos- 
sible before  this  time  should  arrive.  The  demand,  however,  was 
greater  than  could  be  supplied.  From  house  to  house  they  were 
carried  for  sale.  They  were  always  young  men  and  women,  or 
girls  and  boys,  and  their  clothing  was  of  the  simplest  kind.  That 
of  the  men  and  boys  consisted  of  drawers,  only  reaching  midway  the 
thigh,  from  the  waist.  The  upper  portions  of  the  person  and  the 
lower  extremities  were  entirely  nude.  The  females  wore  a  chemise 
reaching  a  few  inches  below  the  knee,  leaving  bare  the  limbs.  This 
was  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  exposing  the  person,  as  much  as 
decency  would  permit,  for  examination,  so  as  to  enable  the  pur- 
chaser to  determine  their  individual  capacity  for  labor.  This  exam- 
ination was  close  and  universal,  beginning  with  an  inspection  of  the 
teeth,  which  in  these  young  savages  were  always  perfect,  save  in 
those  where  they  had  been  filed  to  a  point  in  front.  This  was  not 
uncommon  with  the  males.  It  was  then  extended  to  the  limbs,  and 
ultimately  to  the  entire  person.  They  were  devoid  of  shame,  and 
yielded  to  this  inspection  without  the  slightest  manifestation  of 
offended  modesty.  At  first  they  were  indifferent  to  cooked  food, 
and  would  chase  and  catch  and  eat  the  grasshoppers  and  lizards  with 
the  avidity  of  wild  turkeys,  and  seemed,  as  those  fowls,  to  relish 
these  as  their  natural  food. 

From  such  is  descended  the  race  which  our  Christian  white 
brothers  of  the  North  have,  in  their  devotion  to  their  duty  to  God 
and  their  hatred  to  us,  made  masters  of  our  destiny.  Our  faith  in 
the  justice  and  goodness  of  the  same  Divine  Being  bids  us  believe 
this  unnatural  and  destructive  domination  will  not  be  permitted  to 
endure  for  any  lengthy  period.  Could  the  curtain  which  veiled  out 
the  future  sixty  years  ago,  have  been  lifted,  and  the  vision  of  those 
then  subduing  the  land  been  permitted  to  pierce  and  know  the  present 
of  their  posterity,  they  would  then  have  achieved  a  separation  from 
our  puritanical  oppressors,  and  built  for  themselves  and  their  own 
race,  even- if  in  blood,  a  separate  government,  and  have  made  it  as 
nature  intended  it  should  be  to  this  favored  land — a  wise  and  power- 
ful one. 

Sooner  or  later  these  intentions  of  Divine  wisdom  are  consummated. 
The  fallible  nature  of  man,  through  ignorance  or  the  foolish  indul- 
gence of  bad  passions  in  the  many,  enable  the  few  to  delude  and 
control  the  many,  and  to  postpone  for  a  time  the  inevitable  ;  but  as 


112  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

assuredly  as  time  endures,  nature's  laws  work  out  natural  ends. 
Generations  may  pass  away,  perhaps  perish  from  violence,  and  others 
succeed  with  equally  unnatural  institutions,  making  miserable  the 
race,  until  it,  like  the  precedent,  passes  from  the  earth.  Yet  these 
great  laws  work  on,  and  in  the  end  triumph  in  perfecting  the  Divine 
will. 

To  the  wise  and  observant  this  design  of  the  Creator  is  ever 
apparent ;  to  the  foolish  and  wicked,  never. 

John  Wesley  had  visited  Savannah,  and  travelled  through  the  dif- 
ferent settlements  then  in  embryo,  teaching  the  tenets  and  introducing 
the  simple  worship  of  the  church  of  his  founding,  after  a  method  estab- 
lished by  himself,  and  which  gave  name  and  form  to  the  sect,  now, 
and  almost  from  its  incipiency  known  as  Methodist.  This  organiza- 
tion and  the  tenets  of  its  faith  were  admirably  suited  to  a  rude  people, 
and  none  perhaps  could  have  been  more  efficient  in  forming  and 
improving  such  morals.  Unpretending,  simple  in  form,  devoid  of 
show  or  ceremony,  it  appealed  directly  to  the  purer  emotions  of  our 
nature,  and  through  the  natural  devotion  of  the  heart  lifted  the  mind 
to  the  contemplation  and  inspired  the  soul  with  the  love  of  God. 
Its  doctrines,  based  upon  the  purest  morality,  easily  comprehensible, 
and  promising  salvation  to  all  who  would  believe,  inspiring  an 
enthusiasm  for  a  pure  life,  were  natural,  and  naturally  soon  became 
wide-spread,  and  as  the  writer  believes,  has  done  more  in  breaking 
away  the  shackles  of  ignorance  and  debasing  superstition  from  the 
mind,  than  any  other  system  of  worship  or  doctrine  of  faith  taught  by 
man ;  and  to  this,  in  a  great  degree,  is  due  the  freedom  of  thought,  in- 
dependence of  feeling  and  action,  chivalrous  bearing,  and  high  honor 
of  the  Southern  people.  Inculcating  as  it  does  the  simple  teachings 
of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  —  to  live  virtuously — do  no  wrong — love  fhy 
neighbor  as  thyself,  and  unto  all  do  as  you  would  be  done  by,  —  a 
teaching  easy  of  comprehension,  and  which,  when  sternly  enforced  by 
a  pure  and  elevated  public  sentiment,  becomes  the  rule  of  conduct, 
and  society  is  blessed  with  harmony  and  right.  This  moral  power  is 
omnipotent  for  good,  concentrating  communities  into  one  without 
divisions  or  dissensions,  to  be  wielded  for  good  at  once  and  at  all 
times.  Nothing  evil  can  result  from  such  concentration  of  opinions 
being  directed  by  the  vicious  and  wicked,' so  long  as  the  moral  of 
this  faith  shall  control  the  mind  and  heart. 

Camp-meetings,  an  institution  of  this  church,  and  which  were  first 


FIFTYYEARS.  1 1  3 

commenced  in  Georgia,  are  a  tradition  there  now.  Here  and  there 
through  the  country  yet  remains,  in  ruinous  decay,  the  old  stand  or 
extemporized  pulpit  from  which  the  impassioned  preacher  addressed 
the  assembled  multitude  of  anxious  listeners;  and  around  the  square 
now  overgrown  with  brush -wood  and  forest  -  trees,  prostrate  and 
rotten,  the  remains  of  the  cabin  tents  may  be  seen,  where  once 
the  hospitality  of  the  owners  and  worshippers  was  dispensed  with  a 
heartiness  and  sincerity  peculiar  to  the  simple  habits,  and  honest, 
kindly  emotions  of  a  rude  and  primitive  people. 

How  well  do  I  remember  the  first  of  these  meetings  I  ever 
witnessed  !  I  was  a  small  lad,  and  rode  behind  my  father  on  horse- 
back to  the  ground.  It  was  sixty-five  years  ago.  The  concourse 
was  large,  consisting  of  the  people -of  all  the  country  around — men, 
women,  and  children,  white  and  black.  Around  a  square  enclosing 
some  six  acres  of  ground,  the  tents  were  arranged  —  arbors  of  green 
boughs  cut  from  the  adjoining  forest  formed  a  shelter  from  the  sun's 
rays.  In  front  of  all  of  these,  shading  the  entrance  to  the  tent, 
under  this  friendly  sheltering  from  the  heat  of  the  sun,  assembled 
the  owners  and  the  guests  of  each,  in  social  and  unceremonious  inter- 
course. This  was  strictly  the  habit  of  the  young  people ;  and  here, 
in  evening's  twilight,  has  been  plighted  many  a  vow  which  has 
been  redeemed  by  happy  unions  for  life's  journey,  and  to  be  consum- 
•  mated  when  the  cold  weather  came.  In  the  rear  of  the  tents  were 
temporary  kitchens,  presided  over  in  most  instances  by  some  old, 
trusted  aunty  of  ebon  hue,  whose  pride  it  was  to  prepare  the  meals 
for  her  tent,  and  to  hear  her  cooking  praised  by  the  preachers  and 
the  less  distinguished  guests  of  master  and  mistress.  The  sermons 
were  preached  in  the  morning,  at  noon,  and  at  twilight,  when  all  the 
multitude  were  summoned  to  the  grand  central  stand  in  the  square 
of  the  encampment  by  sounding  a  tin  trumpet  or  ox-horn.  My 
childish  imagination  was  fired  at  the  sight  of  this  assemblage.  My 
wonder  was,  whence  come  all  these  people?  as  converging  from 
the  radius  around  came  the  crowding  multitude,  without  order  and 
without  confusion  —  the  farmer  and  his  brusque  wife  side  by  side, 
leading  their  flock  and  friends:  he  with  an  ample  chair  of  home 
manufacture  slung  by  his  side  for  the  wife's  comfort  as  she  devoutly 
listened  to  the  pious  brother's  comforting  sermon  —  the  guests  and 
the  young  of  the  family  following  in  respectful  silence,  and  at  a 
respectful  distance,  all  tending  to  the  great  arbor  of  bushes  covering 
10*  H 


U4  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

the  place  of  worship.  Over  all  the  space  of  the  encampment 
the  under-brush  had  been  carefully  removed  ;  but  the  great  forest- 
trees  (for  these  encampments  were  always  in  a  forest)  were  left  to 
shade  as  well  as  they  might  the  pulpit-stand  and  grounds.  All 
around  was  dense  forest,  wild  and  beautiful  as  nature  made  it. 

How  well  the  scene  and  the  worship  accorded  !  There  was  con- 
gruity  in  all — the  woods,  the  tents,  the  people,  and  the  worship. 
The  impressions  made  that  day  upon  my  young  mind  were  renewed 
at  many  a  camp-meeting  in  after  years ;  and  so  indelibly  impressed 
as  only  to  pass  away  with  existence. 

The  preacher  rose  upon  his  elevated  platform,  and,  advancing  to  the 
front,  where  a  simple  plank  extending  from  tree  to  tree,  before  him, 
formed  a  substitute  for  a  table  or  desk,  where  rested  the  hymn-book 
•and  Bible,  commenced  the  service  by  reading  a  hymn,  and  then, 
line  by  line,  repeating  it,  to  be  sung  by  all  his  congregation. 

Whoever  has  listened,  in  such  a  place,  amidst  a  great  multitude, 
to  the  singing  of  that  beautiful  hymn  commencing,  "Come,  thou 
fount  of  every  blessing,"  by  a  thousand  voices,  all  in  accord,  and 
not  felt  the  spirit  of  devotion  burning  in  his  heart,  could  scarcely 
be  moved  should  an  angel  host  rend  the  blue  above  him,  and,  float- 
ing through  the  ether,  praise  God  in  song.  In  that  early  day  of 
Methodism,  very  few  of  those  licensed  to  preach  were  educated  men. 
They  read  the  Bible,  and  expounded  its  great  moral  truths  as  they 
understood  them.  Few  of  these  even  knew  that  it  had  been  in  part 
originally  written  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  and  the  other  portion  in 
that  of  the  Greeks ;  but  he  knew  it  contained  the  promise  of  salva- 
tion, and  felt  that  it  was  his  mission  to  preach  and  teach  this  way  to 
his  people,  relying  solely  for  his  power  to  impress  these  wonderful 
truths  upon  the  heart  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  For 
this  reason  the  sermons  of  the  sect  were  never  studied  or  written, 
and  their  excellence  was  their  fervor  and  impassioned  appeals  to  the 
heart  and  the  wild  imaginations  of  the  enthusiastic  and  unlearned  of 
the  land.  Genius,  undisciplined  and  untutored  by  education^is  fet- 
terless, and  its  spontaneous  suggestions  are  naturally  and  powerfully 
effective,  when  burning  from  lips  proclaiming  the  heart's  enthusiasm. 
Thus  extemporizing  orations  almost  daily,  stimulated  the  mind  to 
active  thought,  and  very  many  of  these  illiterate  young  Methodist 
preachers  became  in  time  splendid  orators. 

It  was  the  celebrated  Charles  James  Fox  who  said  to  a  young 


FIFTY     YEARS.  115 

man  just  entering  Parliament,  if  he  desired  to  become  a  great  orator, 
and  had  the  genius  and  feeling  from  nature,  all  he  had  to  do  was  to 
speak  often  and  learn  to  think  on  his  feet.  It  is  to  this  practice  the 
lawyer  and  the  preacher  owe  the  oratory  which  distinguish  these 
above  every  other  class  of  men.  And  yet,  how  few  of  them  ever 
attain  to  the  eminence  of  finished  orators.  Eloquence  and  oratory 
are  by  no  means  identical :  one  is  the  attribute  of  the  heart,  the 
other  of  the  head ;  and  eloquence,  however  unadorned,  is  always 
effective,  because  it  is  born  of  the  feelings;  and  there  is  ever  a  sym- 
pathy between  the  hearts  of  men,  and  the  words,  however  rude  and 
original,  which  bubble  up  from  the  heart  freighted  with  its  feelings, 
rush  with  electrical  force  and  velocity  to  the  heart,  and  stir  to  the 
extent  of  its  capacities.  Oratory,  however  finished,  is  from  the 
brain,  and  is  an  art ;  it  may  convince  the  mind  and  captivate  the 
imagination,  but  never  touches  the  heart  or  stirs  the  soul.  To 
awaken  feelings  in  others,  we  must  feel  ourselves.  Eloquence  is  the 
volume  of  flame,  oratory  the  shaft  of  polished  ice ;  the  one  fires  to 
madness,  the  other  delights  and  instructs. 

Religion  is  the  pathos  of  the  heart,  and  must  be  awakened  from 
the  heart's  emotions.  The  imagination  is  the  great  attribute  of  the 
mind,  gathering  and  creating  thought  and  inspiring  feeling.  Hence, 
the  peculiar  system  of  the  Methodists  in  their  worship  is  the  most 
efficient  in  proselyting,  and  especially  with  a  rude,  imaginative 
people. 

The  camp-meeting  was  an  admirable  device  for  this  purpose,  and 
its  abandonment  by  the  sect  is  as  foolish  as  would  be  that  of  a  knight 
who  would  throw  away  his  sword  as  he  was  rushing  to  battle. 
Fashion  is  omnipotent  in  religion,  as  in  other  things,  and  with  the 
more  general  diffusion  of  education,  camp-meetings  have  come  to  be 
considered  as  vulgar  and  unfashionable.  To  be  vulgar,  is  to  be 
common ;  to  be  common,  is  to  be  natural.  The  masses,  and  espe- 
cially in  democratic  communities,  must  always  be  vulgar  or  com- 
mon—  must  always  be,  in  the  main,  illiterate  and  rude  ;  and  it  is  for 
the  conversion  and  salvation  of  these  multitudes  the  preacher  should 
struggle,  and  in  his  efforts  his  most  efficient  means  should  be  used. 

The  camp-meeting,  at  night,  when  all  the  fire-stands  are  ablaze, 
and  the  multitude  are  assembled  and  singing,  is  beyond  description 
picturesque :  when,  too,  some  eloquent  and  enthusiastic  preacher 
is  stimulating  to  intense  excitement  the  multitude  around  him  with 


Il6  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

the  fervor  of  his  words,  and  the  wild,  passionate  manifestations  of 
his  manner,  to  see  the  crowd  swaying  to  and  fro,  to  hear  the  groans 
and  sobs  of  the  half-frenzied  multitude,  and,  not  unfrequently,  the 
maddened  shriek  of  hysterical  fear,  all  coming  up  from  the  half- 
illuminated  spot,  is  thrillingly  exciting.  And  when  the  sermon  is 
finished,  to  hear  all  this  heated  mass  break  forth  into  song,  the  wild 
melody  of  which  floats,  in  the  stillness  of  night,  upon  the  breeze  to 
the  listening  ear  a  mile  away,  in  cadences  mournfully  sweet,  make 
the  camp-meeting  among  the  most  exciting  of  human  exhibitions. 
In  such  a  school  were  trained  those  great  masters  of  pulpit  oratory, 
Pierce,  Wynans,  Capers,  and  Bascomb.  Whitfield  was  the  great 
exemplar  of  these ;  but  none,  perhaps,  so  imitated  his  style  and 
manner  as  John  Newland  Maffit  and  the  wonderful  Summerfield. 

Like  all  that  is  great  and  enduring,  the  Methodist  Church  had  its 
beginning  among  the  humble  and  lowly.  Rocked  in  the  cradle 
of  penury  and  ignorance,  it  was  firmly  fixed  in  the  foundations  of 
society,  whence  it  rose  from  its  own  purity  of  doctrine  and  simplicity 
of  worship  to  command  the  respect,  love,  and  adoption  of  the 
highest  in  the  land,  and  to  wield  an  influence  paramount  in  the  des- 
tinies of  the  people  and  the  Government.  Its  ministers  are  now 
the  educated  and  eloquent  of  the  Church  militant.  Its  institutions 
of  learning  are  the  first  and  most  numerous  all  over  the  South,  and 
it  has  done  for  female  education  in  the  South  more  than  every  other 
sect  of  Christians,  excepting,  perhaps,  the  Roman  Catholic.  In  the 
cause  of  education  its  zeal  is  enlisted,  and  its  organization  is  such  as 
to  bring  a  wonderful  power  to  operate  upon  the  community  in  every 
section  of  the  South  and  West.  That  this  will  accomplish  much,  we 
have  only  to  look  to  the  antecedents  of  the  Church  to  determine. 
Like  the  coral  insect,  they  never  cease  to  labor :  each  comes  with 
his  mite  and  deposits  it ;  and,  from  the  humblest  beginning,  this 
assiduity  and  contribution  builds  up  great  islands  in  the  sea  of  igno- 
rance—  rich  in  soil,  salubrious  in  climate,  and,  finally,  triumphant 
in  the  conceptions  of  the  chief  architect — completing  for  good  the 
work  so  humbly  begun. 


FIFTYYEARS.  117 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PEDAGOGUES  AND  DEMAGOGUES. 

EDUCATION  — COLLEGES  — SCHOOL -DAYS— WILLIAM  A\D  MARY  — A  SUBSTI- 
TUTE —  BOARDING  AROUND  —  ROUGH  DIAMONDS  —  CASTE  —  GEORGE  M. 
TROUP  —  A  SCOTCH  INDIAN  —  ALEXANDER  MCGILVERY  —  THE  MC!NTOSH 
FAMILY— BUTTON  GWINNETT  — GENERAL  TAYLOR  —  MATTHEW  TALBOT  — 
JESSE  MERCER  —  AN  EXCITING  ELECTION. 

THE  subject  of  education  engaged  the  attention  of  the  people  of 
Georgia  at  a  very  early  day  subsequent  to  the  Revolution. 
Public  schools  were  not  then  jhought  of;  probably  because  such  a 
scheme  would  have  been  impracticable.  The  population  was  sparse, 
and  widely  separated  in  all  the  rural  districts  of  the  country ;  and 
to  have  supplied  all  with  the  means  of  education,  would  have  neces- 
sitated an  expense  beyond  the  power  of  the  State.  A  system  was 
adopted,  of  establishing  and  endowing  academies  in  the  different 
counties,  at  the  county-seat,  where  young  men  who  intended  to  com- 
plete a  collegiate  education  might  be  taught,  and  the  establishment 
and  endowment  of  a  college,  where  this  education  might  be  finished, 
leaving  the  rudimental  education  of  the  children  of  the  State  to  be 
provided  for  by  their  parents,  as  best  they  could.  Primary  schools 
were  gotten  up  in  the  different  neighborhoods  by  the  concentrated 
action  of  its  members,  and  a  teacher  employed,  and  paid  by  each 
parent  at  so  much  per  capita  for  his  children.  In  these  schools 
almost  every  Georgian — yes,  almost  every  Southerner  —  com- 
menced his  education.  It  was  at  these  schools  were  mingled  the 
sexes  in  pursuit  of  their  A,  B,  C,  and  the  incidents  occurring  here 
became  the  cherished  memories  of  after  life.  Many  a  man  of  emi- 
nence has  gone  out  from  these  schools  with  a  better  education  with 
which  to  begin  life  and  a  conflict  with  the  world,  than  is  obtained 
now  at  some  of  the  institutions  called  colleges. 

Young  men  without  means,  who  had  acquired  sufficient  of  the 
rudiments  of  an  English  education,  but  who  desired  to  pursue  their 
studies  and  complete  an  education  to  subserve  the  purposes  of  the 
pursuit  in  life  selected  by  them,  frequently  were  the  teachers  in  the 
primary  schools.  From  this  class  arose  most  of  those  men  so  dis- 


!  I  g  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

• 

tlnguished  in  her  earlier  history.  Some  were  natives,  and  some  were 
immigrants  from  other  States,  who  sought  a  new  field  for  their 
efforts,  and  where  to  make  their  future  homes.  Such  were  William 
H.  Crawford,  Abram  Baldwin,  and  many  others,  whose  names  are 
now  borne  by  the  finest  counties  in  the  State  —  a  monument  to  their 
virtues,  talents,  and  public  services,  erected  by  a  grateful  people. 

These  primitive  schools  made  the  children  of  every  neighborhood 
familiar  to  each  other,  and  encouraged  a  homogeneous  feeling  in 
the  rising  population  of  the  State.  This  sameness  of  education  and 
of  sentiment  created  a  public  opinion  more  efficacious  in  directing 
and  controlling  public  morals  than  any  statutory  law,  or  its  most 
efficient  administration.  It  promoted  an  esprit  du  corps  throughout 
the  country,  and  formed  the  basis  of  that  chivalrous  emprise  so 
peculiarly  Southern. 

The  recollections  of  these  school-days  are  full  of  little  incidents 
confirmatory  of  these  views.  I  will  relate  one  out  of  a  thousand 
I  might  enumerate.  A  very  pretty  little  girl  of  eight  years,  full 
of  life  and  spirit,  had  incurred,  by  some  act  of  childish  mischief, 
the  penalty  of  the  switch  —  the  only  and  universal  means  of  correc- 
tion in  the  country  schools.  She  was  the  favorite  of  a  lad  of  twelve, 
who  sat  looking  on,  and  listening  to  the  questions  propounded  to  his 
sweetheart,  and  learning  the  decision  of  the  teacher,  which  was 
announced  thus  :  "  Well,  Mary,  I  must  punish  you." 

All  eyes  were  directed  to  William.  Deliberately  he  laid  down 
his  books,  and,  stepping  quickly  up  to  the  teacher,  said,  respectfully  : 
"  Don't  strike  her.  Whip  me.  I'll  take  it  for  her,"  as  he  arrested 
with  his  hand  the  uplifted  switch.  Every  eye  in  that  little  log 
school-house  brightened  with  approbation,  and,  in  a  moment  after, 
filled  with  tears,  as  the  teacher  laid  down  his  rod  and  said  :  "  Wil- 
liam, you  are  a  noble  boy,  and,  for  your  sake,  I  will  excuse  Mary." 
Ten  years  after,  Mary  was  the  wife  —  the  dutiful,  loving,  happy 
wife  of  William ;  and  William,  twenty  years  after,  was  a  member  of 
the  Legislature,  and  then  a  representative  in  Congress,  (when  it  was 
an  honor  to  a  gentleman  to  be  such,)  and  afterwards  was  for  years 
a  Senator  in  the  same  body  —  one  of  Georgia's  noblest,  proudest, 
and  best  men. 

Can  any  one  enumerate  an  instance  where  evil  grew  out  of  the 
early  association  of  the  sexes  at  school  ?  In  the  neighborhoods  least 
populous,  and  where  there*  were  but  few  children,  the  pedagogue 


FIFTYYEARS.  119 

usually  divided  the  year  into  as  many  parts  as  he  had  pupils,  and 
boarded  around  with  each  family  the  number  of  days  allotted  to  each 
child.  If  he  was  a  man  of  family,  the  united  strength  of  the  neigh- 
borhood assembled  upon  a  certain  day,  and  built  for  him  a  resi- 
dence contiguous  to  the  school-house,  which  was  erected  in  like 
manner. 

These  buildings  were  primitive  indeed  —  consisting  of  poles  cut 
from  the  forest,  and,  with  no  additional  preparation,  notched  up  into 
a  square  pen,  and  floored  and  covered  with  boards  split  from  a  forest- 
tree  near  at  hand.  It  rarely  required  more  than  two  days  to  com- 
plete the  cabin — the  second  being  appropriated  to  the  chimney,  and 
the  chinking  and  daubing ;  that  is,  filling  the  interstices  with  billets 
of  wood,  and  make  these  air-tight  with  clay  thrown  violently  in,  and 
smoothed  over  with  the  hand.  Such  buildings  constituted  nine- 
tenths  of  the  homes  of  the  entire  country  sixty  years  ago ;  and  in 
such  substitutes  for  houses  were  born  the  men  who  have  moved  the 
Senate  with  their  eloquence,  and  added  dignity  and  power  to  the 
bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  nation,  startled  the  world  with 
their  achievements  upon  the  battle-field,  and  more  than  one  of  them 
has  filled  the  Presidential  chair. 

Men  born  and  reared  under  such  circumstances,  receive  impres- 
sions which  they  carry  through  life,  and  their  characters  always  dis- 
cover the  peculiarities  incident  to  such  birth  and  rearing  —  rough  and 
vigorous,  bold  and  daring,  and  nobly  independent,  without  polish 
or  deceit,  always  sincere,  and  always  honest. 

However  much  the  intellect  may  be  cultivated  in  youth  — 
however  much  it  may  be  distinguished  for  great  thoughts  and 
wonderful  attainments,  still  the  peculiarities  born  of  the  forest  cling 
about  it  in  all  its  roughness  —  a  fit  setting  to  the  unpolished  dia- 
mond of  the  soul. 

The  rural  pursuits  of  the  country,  and  the  necessities  of  the 
isolated  condition  of  a  pioneer  population,  which  necessities  are 
mainly  supplied  by  ingenuity  and  perseverance  on  the  part  of  each, 
creates  an  independence  and  self-reliance  which  enter  largely  into 
the  formation  of  the  general  character.  The  institution  of  African 
slavery  existing  in  the  South,  which  came  with  the  very  first  pioneer, 
and  which  was  continually  on  the  increase,  added  to  this  inde- 
pendence the  habit  of  command ;  and  this,  too,  became  a  part  of 
Southern  character.  The  absolute  control  of  the  slave,  placed  by 


120  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

• 

habit  and  law  in  the  will  of  the  master,  made  it  necessary  to  enact 
laws  for  the  protection  of  the  slave  against  the  tyrannical  cruelties 
found  in  some  natures ;  but  the  public  sentiment  was  in  this,  as  in  all 
other  things,  more  potent  than  law.  Their  servile  dependence  for- 
bade resistance  to  any  cruelty  which  might  be  imposed  ;  but  it  excited 
the  general  sympathy,  and  inspired,  almost  universally,  a  lenient 
humanity  toward  them. 

They  were  mostly  born  members  of  the  household,  grew  up  with 
the  children  of  each  family,  were  companions  and  playmates,  and 
naturally  an  attachment  was  formed,  which  is  always  stronger  in  the 
protecting  than  the  protected  party.  It  was  a  rare  instance  to  find 
a  master  whose  guardian  protection  did  not  extend  with  the  same 
intensity  and  effect  over  his  slave  as  over  his  child :  this,  not  from 
any  motive  of  pecuniary  interest,  but  because  he  was  estopped  by 
law  from  self-defence ;  and,  too,  because  of  the  attachment  and  the 
moral  obligation  on  the  master  to  protect  his  dependants.  Besides, 
the  community  exacted  it  as  a  paramount  duty.  It  is  human  to  be 
attached  to  whatever  it  protects  and  controls ;  out  of  this  feeling 
grows  the  spirit  of  true  chivalry  and  of  lofty  intent  —  that  magna- 
nimity, manliness,  and  ennobling  pride  which  has  so  long  character- 
ized the  gentlemen  of  the  Southern  States. 

Caste,  in  society,  may  degrade,  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  elevates. 
Where  this  caste  was  distinguished  by  master  and  slave,  the  distinc- 
tion was  most  marked,  because  there  was  no  intermediate  gradation. 
It  was  the  highest  and  the  lowest.  It  was  between  the  highest  and 
purest  of  the  races  of  the  human  family,  and  the  lowest  and  most 
degraded ;  and  this  relation  was  free  from  the  debasing  influences 
of  caste  in  the  same  race.  An  improper  appreciation  of  this  fact 
has  gone  far  to  create  with  those  unacquainted  with  negro  character 
the  prejudices  against  the  institution  of  African  slavery,  and  which 
have  culminated  in  its  abolition  in  the  Southern  States. 

The  negro  is  incapacitated  by  nature  from  acquiring  the  high  in- 
telligence of  the  Caucasian.  His  sensibilities  are  extremely  dull, 
his  perceptive  faculties  dim,  and  the  entire  organization  of  his  brain 
forbids  and  rejects  the  cultivation  necessary  to  the  elimination  of 
mind.  With  a  feeble  moral  organization,  and  entirely  devoid  of  the 
higher  attributes  of  mind  and  soul  so  prominent  in  the  instincts 
of  the  Caucasian,  his  position  was  never,  as  a  slave,  oppressive  to 
his  mind  or  his  sense  of  wrong.  He  felt,  and  to  himself  acknowl- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  121 

edged  his  inferiority,  and  submitted  with  alacrity  to  the  control  of 
his  superior.  Under  this  control,  his  moral  and  intellectual  cultiva- 
tion elevated  him :  not  simply  to  a  higher  position  socially,  but  to  a 
higher  standard  in  the  scale  of  being,  and  this  was  manifested  to 
himself  at  the  same  lime  it  demonstrated  to  him  the  natural  truth 
of  his  inferiority.  This  gratified  him,  promoted  his  happiness,  and 
he  was  contented.  The  same  effect  of  the  relation  of  master  and 
servant  can  never  follow  when  the  race  is  the  same,  or  even  when  the 
race  is  but  one  or  two  degrees  inferior  to  the  dominant  one. 

The  influence  of  this  relation  upon  the  white  race  is  marked  in  the 
peculiarities  of  character  which  distinguish  the  people  of  the  South. 
The  habit  of  command,  where  implicit  obedience  is  to  follow,  enno- 
bles. The  comparison  is  inevitable  between  the  commander  and 
him  who  obeys,  and,  in  his  estimation,  unconsciously  elevates  and 
degrades.  This  between  the  white  man  and  negro,  is  only  felt  by 
the  white.  The  negro  never  dreams  that  he  is  degraded  by  this 
servility,  and  consequently  he  does  not  feel  its  oppression.  He  is 
incapable  of  aspiring,  and  manifests  his  pride  and  satisfaction  by 
imitating  his  master  as  much  as  is  possible  to  his  nature.  The  white 
man  is  conscious  of  the  effect  upon  the  negro,  and  has  no  fear  that 
he  is  inflicting  a  misery  to  be  nursed  in  secret  and  sorrow,  and  to 
fill  the  negro's  heart  with  hate.  This,  however,  is  universally  the 
effect  of  the  domination  of  one  man  over  another  of  the  same  race. 
The  relation  was  for  life,  and  the  master  was  responsible  for  the 
moral  and  physical  well-being  of  his  slave.  His  entire  dependence 
makes  him  an  object  of  interest  and  care,  and  the  very  fact  of  this 
responsibility  cultivates  kindness  and  tenderness  toward  him.  But 
this  is  not  all ;  it  carries  with  it  a  consciousness  of  superiority,  and 
inspires  a  superior  bearing.  These  influences  are  more  potent  in  the 
formation  of  female  than  male  character.  The  mistress  is  relieved 
absolutely  from  all  menial  duties,  and  is  served  by  those  who  are 
servants  for  life,  and  compulsorily  so.  She  is  only  under  the  obli- 
gations of  humanity  in  her  conduct  toward  them.  They  must  do 
her  bidding.  She  is  not  afraid  to  offend  by  giving  an  order,  nor  is 
she  apprehensive  of  being  deserted  to  discharge  her  household  labor 
herself  by  offending  them.  It  is  their  duty  to  please — it  is  their 
interest — and  this  is  the  paramount  desire.  The  intercourse  is  gen- 
tle, respectful,  and  kind;  still,  there  is  no  infringement  of  the  barrier 
between  the  mistress  and  the  servant.  This  habit  is  the  source  of 
ii 


122  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

frankness  and  sincerity,  and  this  release  from  the  severity  of  domes- 
tic labor  the  fruitful  source  of  female  delicacy  and  refinement,  so 
transcendently  the  attributes  of  character  in  the  ladies  of  the  South. 
.It  gives  ease  and  time  for  improvement;  for  social  and  intellectual 
intercourse;  creates  habits  of  refinement,  and  a  delicacy  seen  and 
heard  in  all  that  is  done  or  said  in  refined  female  society  in  the 
South.  Something,  too,  I  suppose,  is  due  to  blood.  There  are 
many  grades  in  the  Caucasian  race.  The  Anglo-Norman  or  Anglo- 
Celtic  is  certainly  at  the  head.  They  rule  wherever  left  to  the  con- 
flict of  mind  and  energy  of  soul.  Sometimes  they  are  conquered 
for  a  time,  but  never  completely  so.  The  great  constituents  of  their 
natures  continue  to  resist,  and  struggle  up,  and  when  the  opportunity 
comes,  they  strike  for  control  and  supremacy  — 

"  And  freedom's  battle,  once  begun, 
The  cause  bequeathed  from  sire  to  son, 
Though  baffled  oft,  is  ever  won." 

The  Southern  woman's  soul  is  chivalry.  From  the  highest  to  the 
humblest,  the  same  lofty  purpose,  pride,  and  energy  animate  them. 
They  have  contrasted  the  free  and  noble  with  the  mean  and  servile. 
Its  magic  has  entered  their  natures  and  quickened  their  souls.  In 
all  there  is  a  lofty  scorn  for  the  little  and  mean.  The  same  Wither- 
ing contempt  for  the  cringing  and  cowardly  is  met  in  every  one  of 
them.  Their  impulses  are  generous,  and  their  aspirations  noble, 
with  hearts  as  soft  and  tender  as  love,  pity,  and  compassion  can 
form.  Yet  in  them  there  is,  too,  the  fire  of  chivalry,  the  scorn  of 
contempt,  and  the  daring  of  her  who  followed  her  immortal  brother, 
the  great  Palafox,  at  the  defence  of  Saragossa,  her  native  city,  and, 
standing  upon  the  dead  bodies  of  her  countrymen,  snatched  the 
burning  match  from  the  hand  of  death,  and  fired  the  cannon  at  the 
advancing  foe,  and  planted  Spain's  standard,  in  defiance  of  the 
veterans  of  Soult — a  rallying  point  for  her  countrymen — and  saved 
Saragossa.  They  were  born  to  command,  and  can  never  be  slaves, 
or  the  mothers  of  slaves. 

The  same  influences  powerfully  operate  in  producing  that  bearing 
of  chivalrous  distinction,  which  is  seen  everywhere  in  the  deport- 
ment of  the  Southern  gentlemen  toward  ladies.  They  are  ever 
polite,  respectful,  and  deferential.  This,  however,  is  only  one  of 
many  elements  in  the  peculiar  character  of  Southern  people.  Their 


FIFTY    YEARS.  123 

piety  is  Christian  in  its  character.  The  precepts  of  the  Bible  are 
fashioned  into  example  in  the  conduct  of  the  older  members  of 
society,  and  especially  in  the  female  portion.  This  is,  perhaps,  the 
predominant  element.  The  Bible  is  the  guide,  not  the  fashion,  in 
religious  duty.  Its  doctrines  are  taught  in  purity,  and  in  their  sim- 
plicity enter  into  the  soul,  as  the  great  constituent  of  character. 

The  chivalrous  bearing  of  man  toward  woman  inspires  her  with 
elevated  and  noble  sentiments  —  a  pride  and  dignity  conservative  of 
purity  in  all  her  relations  —  and,  reflecting  these  back  upon  society, 
producing  most  salutary  influences.  It  is  woman's  pride  to  lean  on 
man  —  to  share  his  love  and  respect  —  to  be  elevated  by  his  virtues, 
and  appreciated  by  the  world  because  of  his  honors  —  to  be  a  part 
of  his  fame.  The  mother,  the  wife,  the  sister,  the  relative  should 
share  with  the  husband,  the  son,  the  brother,  the  kinsman,  in  the 
world's  honors,  in  the  sufferings,  sorrows,  and  miseries  incidental 
to  all.  They  are  part  and  parcel  of  man,  and  partake  of  his  nature 
and  his  position,  as  of  his  fortune.  When  man  shall  cease  to  view 
woman,  and  so  deport  himself  toward  her  as  a  purer,  more  refined, 
and  more  elevated  being  than  himself,  that  moment  she  will  sink  to 
his  level,  and  then  her  prestige  for  good  is  gone  forever.  That 
delicacy,  refinement,  and  chasteness,  so  restraining  and  so  purifying 
to  man  in  her  association,  is  the  soul  of  civilization  —  the  salt  of  the 
earth.  In  its  absence,  no  people  are  ever  great;  for,  as  it  is  the 
spirit  of  man's  honor,  so  is  it  a  nation's  glory.  It  must  be  cherished, 
for  it  inspires  man's  honor  by  man's  chivalry.  Thus  she  becomes 
a  people's  strength ;  for  their  crown  of  glory  is  her  chastity  and 
angelic  purity. 

These  virtues  distinguished  the  pioneer  women  of  Middle  Georgia 
sixty  years  ago.  As  their  husbands  were  honest  and  brave,  they 
were  chaste  and  pious ;  and  from  such  a  parentage  sprang  the  men 
and  women  who  have  made  a  history  for  her  pre-eminent  among 
all  her  sister  States.  Her  sons  have  peopled  the  West,  and  are  dis- 
tinguished there  for  their  high  honor  and  splendid  abilities ;  and  yet 
at  home  she  boasts  Toombs,  Colt,  Stephens,  Hill,  Johnson,  Camp- 
bell, and  a  host  of  others,  who  are  proud  specimens  among  the 
proudest  of  the  land.  They  have  measured  their  strength  with  the 
proudest  minds  of  all  the  Union,  and  won  a  fame  unequalled, 
adorning  her  councils,  its  Cabinet,  its  Bench,  and  were  the  first 
everywhere. 


124  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

George  Michael  Troup,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  Geor- 
gia's sons,  was  the  son  of  an  English  gentleman,  who  emigrated  to 
Georgia  anterior  to  the  Revolution.  He  married  Miss  Mclntosh, 
of  Georgia,  sister  of  General  John  Mclntosh,  of  Mclntosh  County. 
He  took  no  part  in  the  Revolution.  England  was  his  mother 
country;  to  her  he  was  attached,  and  in  conscience  he  could  not  lift 
his  hand  in  wrath  against  her.  This  course  did  not  meet  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Mclntoshes,  and  he  retired  from  the  State  and  country. 
First,  he  went  to  England,  but  not  contented  there,  he  came  to  the 
Spanish  town  of  Pensacola.  Here  he  met  the  celebrated  Indian 
chief,  Alexander  McGilvery,  who  was  hostile  to  the  Americans,  and 
who  invited  him  to  take  refuge  in  his  country.  McGilvery  was  a 
remarkable  man ;  his  father  was  a  Scotchman,  his  mother  a  half- 
breed  ;  her  father  was  the  celebrated  French  officer  who  was  killed 
by  his  own  men  in  1732  at  Fort  Toulouse — his  name  was  Marchand, 
—  and  her  mother  a  full-blooded  Creek  woman. 

McGilvery  supposed  him  an  English  emissary,  and  invited  him  to 
go  into  the  Creek  nation  and  reside  with  his  people.  From  Pensa- 
cola he  went  to  Mobile,  and  thence  to  a  bluff  on  the  Tombigbee, 
where  he  remained  during  the  war.  This  bluff  he  named  Mcln- 
tosh's  Bluff,  and  it  bears  the  name  yet.  Here  George  M.  Troup 
was  born.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Georgia,  and 
fixed  his  residence  among  the  relatives  of  his  wife.  The  Mclntosh 
family  were  Highland  Scotch,  and  partook  of  all  the  intrepidity  of 
that  wonderful  people.  They  immigrated  to  Georgia  with  General 
Oglethorpe  in  company  with  a  number  of  their  countrymen,  and 
for  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  have  continued  to  reside  in  the 
county  named  for  the  first  of  their  ancestors  who  settled  and  made 
a  home  in  the  colony  of  Georgia.  It  is  a  family  distinguished  for 
chivalry  as  well  in  Europe  as  in  Georgia.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  Revolution  they  at  once  sided  with  the  colonists.  Lachlin 
and  John  Mclntosh  became  distinguished  as  leaders  in  that  pro- 
tracted and  doubtful  conflict,  meeting  in  battle  their  kinsman  in 
high  command  in  the  British  army.  On  one  occasion,  when  John 
Mclntosh  had  surrendered  at  the  battle  of  Brier  Creek,  a  British 
officer,  lost  to  every  sentiment  and  feeling  of  honor,  attempted  to 
assassinate  him,  and  was  only  prevented  from  doing  so  by  Sir  ./Eneas 
Mclntosh,  the  commander  of  the  English  army,  whose  promptness 
arrested  the  blow  by  interposing  his  own  sword  to  receive  it. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  125 

Lachlin  Mclntosh  was  the  commander  of  the  first  regiment  raised 
in  Georgia  to  aid  in  the  Revolution.  In  1777,  a  difficulty  arose 
between  Button  Gwinnett  (who,  upon  the  death  of  Governor  Bullock, 
had  succeeded  him  as  Governor,)  and  Mclntosh.  A  duel  was  the 
consequence,  in  which  Gwinnett  was  killed.  Tradition  says  this  dif- 
ficulty grew  out  of  the  suspicions  of  Mclntosh  as  to  the  fidelity  of 
Gwinnett  to  the  American  cause.  He  was  an  Englishman  by  birth, 
and,  upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  hesitated  for  some  time  as 
to  the  course  he  should  pursue.  This  was  a  time  when  all  who 
hesitated  were  suspected,  and  Gwinnett  shared  the  common  fate. 
Eventually  he  determined  to  espouse  the  revolutionary  party,  and 
was  elected  to  the  Convention,  and  was  one  of  the  immortal  band 
who  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence  emanating  from  that 
Convention.  Until  his  death  he  was  faithful  and  active.  Mclntosh 
doubted  him,  and  he  was  not  a  man  to  conceal  his  opinions.  Mcln- 
tosh was  severely  wounded  in  the  conflict. 

This  family  was  one  of  remarkable  spirit ;  and  this  has  descended 
to  the  posterity  of  the  old  cavaliers  even  unto  this  day.  Colonel 
Mclntosh,  who  fell  at  Molino  del  Rey,  in  our  recent  war  with 
Mexico,  was  one  of  this  family.  He  had  all  the  spirit  and  chivalry 
of  his  ancestors.  I  remember  to  have  heard  Generals  Taylor  and 
Twiggs  speaking  of  him  subsequently  to  his  death,  and  felt  proud, 
as  a  native  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  of  the  distinguished  praise 
bestowed  on  him  by  these  gallant  veterans.  General  Taylor  was  not 
generally  enthusiastic  in  his  expressions  of  praise,  but  he  was  always 
sincere  and  truthful.  On  this  occasion,  however,  he  spoke  warmly 
and  feelingly  of  the  honor,  the  gallantry,  and  intrepidity  of  his  fel- 
low-soldier — his  high  bearing,  his  pride,  his  proficiency  as  an  officer 
in  the  field,  and  the  efficiency  of  his  regiment,  its  perfection  of  drill 
and  discipline,  and  coolness  in  battle  —  and,  with  unusual  warmth, 
exclaimed:  "If  I  had  had  with  me  at  Buena  Vista,  Mclntosh  and 
Riley,  with  their  veterans,  I  would  have  captured  or  totally  destroyed 
the  Mexican  army." 

Captain  Mclntosh,  of  the  navy,  was  another  of  this  distinguished 
family.  He  had  no  superior  in  the  navy.  So  was  that  ardent  and 
accomplished  officer,  Colonel  Mclntosh,  who  fell  at  Oak  Hill,  in  the 
late  war  in  Missouri.  In  truth,  there  has  not  been  a  day  in  one 
hundred  and  thirty  years,  when  there  has  not  been  a  distinguished 
son  of  this  family  to  bear  and  transmit  its  name  and.  fame  to  pos- 
u* 


126  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

terity.  Through  his  mother,  to  George  M.  Troup  descended  all  the 
nobler  traits  of  the  Mclntosh  family.  He  was  educated,  preparatory 
to  entering  college,  at  Flatbush,  Long  Island.  His  teacher's  name 
I  have  forgotten,  but  he  was  a  remarkable  man,  and  devoted  him- 
self to  the  instruction  of  the  youth  intrusted  to  his  care.  He  seems 
to  have  had  a  peculiar  talent  for  inspiring  a  high  order  of  ambition 
in  his  pupils,  and  of  training  them  to  a  deportment  and  devotion  to 
principle  which  would  lead  them  to  distinguished  conduct  through 
life.  Governor  Troup,  in  speaking  to  the  writer  of  his  early  life, 
and  of  his  school-days  on  Long  Island,  said:  "There  were  twenty- 
one  of  us  at  this  school  fitting  for  college,  and,  in  after  life,  nineteen 
of  us  met  in  Congress,  the  representatives  of  fourteen  States." 

Troup,  after  leaving  this  school,  went  to  Princeton,  and  graduated 
at  Nassau  Hall,  in  his  nineteenth  year.  Returning  to  Savannah,  he 
read  law ;  but  possessing  ample  fortune,  he  never  practised  his  pro- 
fession. His  talents  were  of  an  order  to  attract  attention.  James 
Jackson,  and  most  of  the  leading  men  of  the  day,  turned  to  him  as  a 
man  of  great  promise.  The  Republican  party  of  Savannah  nomi- 
nated him  to  represent  the  county  of  Chatham,  in  the  Legislature  of 
the  State,  before  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Being  constitu- 
tionally ineligible,  he,  of  course,  declined  ;  but  as  soon  as  he  became 
eligible,  he  was  returned,  and,  for  some  years,  continued  to  repre- 
sent the  county.  From  the  Legislature  he  was  transferred  to  Con- 
gress, where  he  at  once  became  distinguished,  not  only  for  talent, 
but  a  lofty  honor  and  most  polished  bearing.  While  a  member  of 
Congress,  he  married  a  Virginia  lady,  who  was  the  mother  of  his 
three  children.  Soon  after  the  birth  of  her  third  child,  there  was 
discovered  aberration  of  mind  in  Mrs.  Troup,  which  terminated  in 
complete  alienation.  This  was  a  fatal  blow  to  the  happiness  of  her 
husband.  She  was  tenderly  beloved  by  him ;  and  his  acute  sensi- 
bility and  high  nervous  temperament  became  so  much  affected  as 
not  only  to  fill  him  with  grief,  but  to  make  all  his  remaining  life  one 
of  melancholy  and  sorrow.  He  had  been  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  but,  in  consequence  of  this  terrible  blow,  and  the  con- 
stant care  of  his  afflicted  lady,  to  which  he  devoted  himself,  he  lost 
his  health,  and  resigned.  He  retired  to  his  home,  and  to  the  sad 
duties  of  afflicted  love. 

About  this  time  the  people  of  Georgia  became  divided  upon  the 
political  issues  of  the  day.  William  H.  Crawford  was  nominated  by 


FIFTY     YEARS.  127 

his  friends  for  the  Presidency.  This  aroused  his  enemies'  hatred, 
who  organized  an  opposition  to  him  in  his  own  State.  This  opposi- 
tion was  headed  by  John  Clarke,  his  old  enemy,  and  was  aided  by 
every  old  Federalist  and  personal  enemy  in  the  State.  Crawford's 
friends  were  too  confident  in  the  popularity  which  had  borne  him  to 
so  many  triumphs,  and  were  slow  to  organize.  The  election  of 
Governor  devolved,  at  that  time,  upon  the  Legislature,  and  Clarke, 
upon  the  death  of  Governor  Rabun,  was  announced  as  the  candidate. 
The  event  of  Rabun's  death  occurred  only  a  very  short  time  before 
the  meeting  of  the  Legislature.  Matthew  Talbot,  the  President  of  the 
Senate,  assumed,  under  the  Constitution,  the  duties  of  Governor, 
but  sent  the  message  already  prepared  by  Rabun  to  the  Legislature, 
and  immediately  an  election  took  place,  whereupon  Clarke  was 
elected.  Troup  had  been  solicited  to  oppose  him,  but  was  loath  to 
embark  anew  in  political  life.  Ultimately  he  yielded,  and  was 
defeated  by  thirteen  votes.  The  friends  of  Crawford  were  now 
alarmed,  and  the  contest  was  immediately  renewed.  The  canvass 
was  one  of  the  most  rancorous  and  bitter  ever  known  in  the-  State, 
but  of  this  I  have  spoken  in  a  former  chapter.  At  the  ensuing  elec- 
tion, Troup  was  again  a  candidate.  Again  the  contest  was  renewed, 
and,  if  possible,  with  increased  violence  and  vigor.  Clarke,  in 
obedience  to  usage,  had  retired,  and  his  party  had  put  forward 
Matthew  Talbot,  of  Wilkes  County,  as  the  competitor  of  Troup. 
This  contest  had  now  continued  for  four  years,  and  Troup  was 
elected  by  two  votes. 

The  memory  of  this  election  will  never  fade  from  the  minds  of 
any  who  witnessed  it.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature  it  was 
doubtful  which  party  had  the  majority.  Two  members  chosen  as 
favorable  to  the  election  of  Troup,  were  unable  from  sickness  to 
reach  the  seat  of  Government,  and  it  was  supposed  this  gave  the 
majority  to  Talbot.  There  was  no  political  principle  involved  in 
the  contest.  Both  professedly  belonged  to  the  Republican  party. 
Both  seemed  anxious  to  sustain  the  principles  and  the  ascendency  of 
that  party.  There  were  no  spoils.  The  patronage  of  the  executive 
was  literally  nothing  ;  and  yet  there  was  an  intensity  of  feeling 
involved  for  which  there  was  no  accounting,  unless  it  was  the  anxiety 
of  one  party  to  sustain  Mr.  Crawford  at  home  for  the  Presidency, 
and  on  the  other  hand  to  gratify  the  hatred  of  Clarke,  and  sustain 
Mr.  Calhoun. 


128  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

During  the  period  intervening  between  the  meeting  of  the  Legis- 
lature and  the  day  appointed  for  the  election,  every  means  was 
resorted  to,  practicable  in  that  day.  There  was  no  money  used 
directly.  There  was  not  a  man  in  that  Legislature  who  would  not 
have  repelled  with  scorn  a  proposition  to  give  his  vote  for  a  pecuni- 
ary consideration ;  but  all  were  open  to  reason,  State  pride,  and  a 
sincere  desire  to  do  what  they  deemed  best  for  the  honor  and  interest 
of  the  State.  The  friends  of  either  candidate  would  have  deserted 
their  favorite  instantly  upon  the  fact  being  known  that  they  had 
even  winked  at  so  base  a  means  of  success.  Every  one  was  tena- 
ciously jealous  of  his  fame,  and  equally  so  of  that  of  the  State.  The 
machinery  of  party  was  incomplete,  and  individual  independence 
universal.  There  were  a  few  members,  whose  characters  forbade  vio- 
lence of  prejudice,  and  who  were  mild,  considerate,  and  unimpas- 
sioned.  These  men  were  sought  to  be  operated  upon  by  convincing 
them  that  the  great  interests  of  the  State  would  be  advanced  by  elect- 
ing their  favorite.  The  public  services  of  Troup,  and  his  stern,  lofty, 
and  eminently  pure  character,  were  urged  by  his  friends  as  reasons 
why  he  should  be  chosen.  The  people  of  the  State  were  becoming 
clamorous  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  contract  between  the  State  and 
General  Government  for  the  removal  of  the  Indians  from  the  terri- 
tory of  the  State,  and  Troup  was  urged  upon  the  voters  as  being 
favorable  in  the  extreme  to  this  policy,  and  also  as  possessing  the 
talents,  will,  and  determination  to  effect  this  end.  Finally  the  day 
of  election  arrived.  The  representative  men  of  the  State  were  assem- 
bled. It  was  scarcely  possible  to  find  hotel  accommodations  for  the 
multitude.  The  judges  of  the  different  judicial  districts,  the  leading 
members  of  the  Bar,  men  of  fortune  and  leisure,  the  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  different  sects  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  especially  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel  who  were  most  prominent  and  influential, 
were  all  there.  The  celebrated  Jesse  Mercer  was  a  moving  spirit 
amidst  the  excited  multitude,  and  Daniel  Duffle,  who,  as  a  most  intol- 
erant Methodist,  and  an  especial  hater  of  the  Baptist  Church  and  all 
Baptists,  was  there  also,  willing  to  lay  down  all  ecclesiastical  preju- 
dice, and  go  to  heaven  even  with  Jesse  Mercer,  because  he  was  a 
Troup  man. 

The  Senate  came  into  the  Representative  chamber  at  noon,  to 
effect,  on  joint  ballot,  the  election  of  Governor.  The  President  of 
the  Senate  took  his  seat  with  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  and  in  obe- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  129 

dience  to  law  assumed  the  presidency  of  the  assembled  body.  The 
members  were  ordered  to  prepare  their  ballots  to  vote  for  the 
Governor  of  the  State.  The  Secretary  of  the  Senate  called  the  roll 
of  the  Senate,  each  man,  as  his  name  was  called,  moving  up  to  the 
clerk's  desk,  and  depositing  his  ballot.  The  same  routine  was  then 
gone  through  with  on  the  part  of  the  House,  when  the  hat  (for  a  hat 
was  used)  containing  the  ballots  was  handed  to  the  President  of  the 
Senate,  Thomas  Stocks,  of  Greene  County,  who  proceeded  to 
count  the  ballots,  and  finding  only  the  proper  number,  commenced 
to  call  the  name  from  each  ballot.  Pending  this  calling  the  silence 
was  painfully  intense.  Every  place  within  the  spacious  hall,  the 
gallery,  the  lobby,  the  committee-rooms,  and  the  embrasures  of  the 
windows  were  all  filled  to  crushing  repletion.  And  yet  not  a  word 
or  sound,  save  the  excited  breathing  of  ardent  men,  disturbed  the 
anxious  silence  of  the  hall.  One  by  one  the  ballots  were  called. 
There  were  166  ballots,  requiring  84  to  elect.  When  160  bal- 
lots were  counted,  each  candidate  had  80,  and  at  this  point  the 
excitement  was  so  painfully  intense  that  the  President  suspended  the 
count,  and,  though  it  was  chilly  November,  took  from  his  pocket  his 
handkerchief,  and  wiped  from  his  flushed  face  the  streaming  perspi- 
ration. While  this  was  progressing,  a  wag  in  the  gallery  sang  out, 
"The  darkest  time  of  night  is  just  before  day."  This  interruption 
was  not  noticed  by  the  President,  who  called  out  "Troup !  "  then 
"  Talbot !  "  and  again  there  was  a  momentary  suspension.  Then  he 
called  again,  "Troup — Talbot !  "  "82  —  82,"  was  whispered  audi- 
bly through  the  entire  hall.  Then  the  call  was  resumed.  "Troup ! " 
"A  tie,"  said  more  than  a  hundred  voices.  There  remained  but 
one  ballot.  The  President  turned  the  hat  up-side  down,  and  the 
ballot  fell  upon  the  table.  Looking  down  upon  it,  he  called,  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  "Troup!"  The  scene  that  followed  was  inde- 
scribable. The  two  parties  occupied  separate  sides  of  the  chamber. 
Those  voting  for  Troup  rose  simultaneously  from  their  seats,  and 
one  wild  shout  seemed  to  lift  the  ceiling  overhead.  Again,  with 
increased  vim,  was  it  given.  The  lobby  and  the  galleries  joined  in 
the  wild  shout.  Members  and  spectators  rushed  into  each  others' 
arms,  kissed  each  other,  wept,  shouted,  kicked  over  the  desks,  tum- 
bled on  the  floor,  and  for  ten  minutes  this  maddening  excitement 
suspended  the  proceedings  of  the  day.  It  was  useless  for  the  pre- 
siding officer  to  command  order,  if,  indeed,  his  feelings  were  suffi- 

I 


130  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

ciently  under  control  to  do  so.  When  exhaustion  had  produced  com- 
parative silence,  Duffie,  with  the  full  brogue  of  the  County  Carlow 
upon  his  tongue,  ejaculated :  "  O  Lord,  we  thank  Thee  !  The  State 
is  redeemed  from  the  rule  of  the  Devil  and  John  Clarke."  Mercer 
waddled  from  the  chamber,  waving  his  hat  above  his  great  bald 
head,  and  shouting  "Glory,  glory!  "  which  he  continued  until  out 
of  sight.  General  Blackshear,  a  most  staid  and  grave  old  gentle- 
man and  a  most  sterling  man,  rose  from  his  seat,  where  he,  through 
all  this  excitement,  had  sat  silent,  folded  his  arms  upon  his  breast, 
and,  looking  up,  with  tears  streaming  from  his  eyes,  exclaimed : 
"Now,  Lord,  I  am  ready  to  die!"  Order  was  finally  restored, 
and  the  state  of  the  ballot  stated,  '(Troup,  S{;  Talbot,  82,)  when 
President  Stocks  proclaimed  George  M.  Troup  duly  elected  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  of  Georgia  for  the  next  three  years. 

This  was  the  last  election  of  a  Governor  by  the  Legislature.  The 
party  of  Clarke  demanded  that  the  election  should  be  given  to  the 
people.  This  was  done,  and  in  1825,  Troup  was  re-elected  over 
Clarke  by  a  majority  of  some  seven  hundred  votes.  It  was  during 
this  last  contest  that  the  violence  and  virulence  of  party  reached  its 
acme,  and  pervaded  every  family,  creating  animosities  which  neither 
time  nor  reflection  ever  healed. 


CHAPTER  X. 

INDIAN     TREATIES     AND     DIFFICULTIES. 

THE  CREEKS— JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  —  HOPOTHLEYOHOLO  —  INDIAN  ORATORY 
—  SULPHUR  SPRING  — TREATIES  MADE  AND  BROKEN  — AN  INDEPENDENT 
GOVERNOR  — COLONELS  JOHN  S.  MC!NTOSH,  DAVID  EMANUEL  TWIGGS,  ANI> 
DUNCAN  CLINCH  —  GENERAL  GAINES  —  CHRISTIANIZING  THE  INDIANS  — 
COTTON  MATHER  — EXPEDIENT  AND  PRINCIPLE  —  THE  PURITANICAL  SNAKE, 

DURING  the  administration  of  Troup,  a  contest  arose  as  to  the 
true  western  boundary  of  the  State,  and  the  right  of  the  State  to 
the  territory  occupied  by  a  portion  of  the  Creek  tribe  of  Indians. 
In  the  difficulty  arising  out  of  the  sale  by  the  Legislature  of  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  13! 

lands  belonging  to  the  State  bordering  upon  the  Mississippi  River, 
a  compromise  was  effected  by  Congress  with  the  company  purchas- 
ing, and  Georgia  had  sold  to  the  United  States  her  claim  to  all  the 
lands  in  the  original  grant  to  General  Oglethorpe  and  others  by  the 
English  Government,  west  of  the  Chattahoochee  River.  A  part  of 
the  consideration  was  that  the  United  States  should,  at  a  convenient 
time,  and  for  the  benefit  of  Georgia,  extinguish  the  title  of  the 
Indians,  and  remove  them  from  the  territory  occupied  by  them,  east 
of  the  Chattahoochee  River,  to  a  certain  point  upon  that  stream ; 
and  from  this  point,  east  of  a  line  to  run  from  it,  directly  to  a  point 
called  Neckey  Jack,  on  the  Tennessee  River.  The  war  of  1812  with 
Great  Britain  found  the  Creek  or  Alabama  portion  of  this  tribe  of 
Indians  allies  of  England.  They  were  by  that  war  conquered,  and 
their  territory  wrested  from  them.  Those  of  the  tribe  under  the 
influence  of  the  celebrated  chief  William  Mclntosh  remained 
friendly  to  the  United  States,  and  were  active  in  assisting  in  the 
conquest  of  their  hostile  brethren.  The  conquered  Indians  were 
removed  from  their  territory  and  homes,  into  the  territory  east  of 
Line  Creek,  which  was  made  the  western  boundary  of  the  Creek 
Nation's  territory.  Many  of  them  came  into  the  territory  claimed  by 
Georgia  as  her  domain. 

This  war  was  a  war  of  the  Republican  party  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  State  of  Georgia  being  almost  unanimously  Republican,  her 
people  felt  it  would  be  unpatriotic,  at  this  juncture,  to  demand  of  the 
Government  the  fulfilment  of  her  obligations  in  removing  the  Indians 
from  her  soil.  The  expenses  of  the  war  were  onerous,  and  felt  as  a 
heavy  burden  by  the  people,  and  one  which  was  incurred  by  Repub- 
lican policy.  That  party  felt  that  it  was  its  duty  to  liquidate  this 
war  debt  as  speedily  as  possible.  To  this  end  the  sale  of  those  con- 
quered lands  would  greatly  contribute ;  relieving,  at  the  same  time, 
the  people  to  some  extent,  from  the  heavy  taxation  they  had  borne 
during  the  progress  of  the  war.  Consequently,  they  had  not  pressed 
the  fulfilment  of  this  contract  upon  the  Government.  But  now  the 
war  debt  had  been  liquidated  —  the  United  States  treasury  was 
overilowing  with  surplus  treasure — Indian  tribes  were  being  removed 
by  the  purchase  of  their  lands  in  the  northwest,  and  a  tide  of  popu- 
lation pouring  in  upon  these  lands,  and  threatening  a  powerful 
political  preponderance  in  opposition  to  Southern  policy  and 
Southern  interests.  Under  these  circumstances,  and  the  recom- 


132  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

mendation  of  Governor  Troup,  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  by  joinl 
resolution  and  memorial  to  Congress,  demanded  the  fulfilment  of  the 
contract  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  the  immediate  removal 
of  the  Indians. 

John  Quincy  Adams  was  at  that  time  President  of  the  United 
States,  and,  as  he  had  ever  been,  was  keenly  alive  to  Northern 
interests  and  to  Federal  views.  Though  professing  to  be  Republican 
in  political  faith,  he  arrayed  all  his  influence  in  opposition  to  the 
rights  of  the  States.  In  this  matter  he  gave  the  cold  shoulder  to 
Georgia.  He  did  not  recommend  a  repudiation  of  the  contract,  but 
interposed  every  delay  possible  to  its  consummation.  After  some 
time,  commissioners  were  appointed  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the 
Indians  for  the  purchase  of  their  claim  to  the  lands  within  the 
boundaries  established  by  the  sale  to  the  United  States  —  or  so  much 
thereof  as  was  in  possession  of  the  Creek  tribe.  To  this  there  was 
very  serious  opposition,  not  only  from  that  portion  of  the  tribe  which 
formerly  allied  themselves  to  Great  Britain,  but  from  missionaries 
found  in  the  Cherokee  country,  and  from  Colonel  John  Crowell,  who 
was  United  States  agent  for  the  Creek  Indians.  These  Indians  were 
controlled  by  their  chief,  Hopothleyoholo,  a  man  of  rare  abilities 
and  great  daring.  He  was  a  powerful  speaker,  fluent  as  a  fountain, 
and  extremely  vigorous  in  his  expressions  :  his  imagery  was  original 
and  beautiful,  apposite  and  illustrative ;  and  his  words  and  manner 
passionate  to  wildness.  To  all  this  he  added  the  ferocity  of  his 
savage  nature. 

Crowell  was  an  especial  friend  of  Governor  Clarke,  and  was 
influenced  by  his  party  feelings  of  hatred  to  Troup  —  in  his  opposi- 
tion to  a  treaty,  openly  declaring  that  Georgia  should  never  acquire 
the  land  while  Troup  was  Governor.  He  was  an  unscrupulous  man, 
of  questionable  morals,  and  vindictive  as  a  snake. 

The  persevering  energy  of  Troup,  however,  prevailed.  A  treaty 
was  negotiated,  and  signed  by  Crowell,  as  agent,  and  a  number  of  the 
chiefs  headed  by  Mclntosh.  No  sooner  was  this  done,  than  Crowell, 
with  a  number  of  chiefs,  hurried  to  Washington  to  protest  against 
the  ratification  and  execution  of  the  treaty,  charging  the  United 
States  commissioners  with  fraud  in  the  negotiation,  under  the 
influence  of  Troup,  prompted  by  W.  H.  Crawford  and  friends. 
The  fraud  charged  was  in  giving  presents  to  the  chiefs,  and  a 
couple  of  reservations  of  land  to  Mclntosh  —  one  where  he  resided, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  133 

and  the  other  around  and  including  the  famous  Sulphur  Spring, 
known  as  the  Indian  Spring,  in  Butts  County. 

This  habit  of  giving  presents  to  the  chiefs  when  negotiating  treaties 
has  always  been  the  custom  of  the  Government.  They  expect  it ;  it 
is  a  part  of  the  consideration  paid  for  the  treaty  of  sale,  for  they  are 
universally  the  vendors  of  territory  and  the  negotiators  of  treaties 
for  their  tribes.  This  charge  was  simply  a  subterfuge,  and  one  that 
was  known  would  be  influential  with  the  mawkish  philanthropists  of 
the  North,  Mr.  Adams,  and  the  senators  and  representatives  from  New 
England.  Upon  the  assumption  of  fraud,  based  upon  these  charges 
alone,  the  treaty  was  set  aside  by  the  action  of  the  President  and 
Cabinet  alone ;  and  by  the  same  authority  a  new  one  made,  with 
a  change  of  boundary,  involving  a  loss  of  a  portion  of  territory 
belonging  to  Georgia  under  the  stipulations  of  the  contract  between 
the  State  and  United  States.  The  previous  or  first  treaty  had  been 
submitted  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and  duly  ratified,  thereby 
becoming  a  law,  under  which  Georgia  claimed  vested  rights. 

It  was  under  these  trying  circumstances  that  the  stern  and  deter- 
mined character  of  Troup  displayed  itself.  Holding  firmly  to  the 
doctrine  of  State  rights,  he  notified  the  President  that  he  should  dis- 
regard the  latter  treaty,  and  proceed  to  take  possession  of  the  terri- 
tory under  the  stipulations  of  the  former  one.  Upon  the  receipt  of 
this  information,  General  Gaines  was  ordered  to  Georgia  to  take 
command  of  the  troops  stationed  along  the  frontier  of  the  State,  and 
any  additional  troops  which  might  be  ordered  to  this  point,  with 
orders  to  protect  the  Indians,  and  prohibit  taking  possession  of  the 
territory,  as  contemplated  by  Governor  Troup.  A  correspondence 
ensued  between  General  Gaines  and  Governor  Troup  of  a  most  angry 
character.  It  terminated  with  an  order  to  General  Gaines  to  forbear 
all  further  communication  with  the  Government  of  Georgia.  This 
was  notified  to  the  President,  (if  my  memory  is  correct,  for  I  write 
from  memory,)  in  these  terms: 

"  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  President  of  the  United  States: 

"  SIR:  I  have  ordered  General  Gaines  to  forbear  all  further  com- 
munication with  this  Government.  Should  he  presume  to  infringe 
this  order,  I  will  send  your  major-general  by  brevet  home  to  you  in 
irons.  GEORGE  M.  TROUP,  Governor  of  Georgia." 

The  surveyors    previously  appointed   by  the    Legislature  were 

12 


1 34  THE    MEMORIES    OF 

directed  to  be  on  the  ground,  in  defiance  of  United  States  authority, 
on  the  first  day  of  September  succeeding,  and  at  sunrise  to  com- 
mence the  work  of  surveying  the  lands.  A  collision  was  anticipated 
as  certain  between  the  troops  of  the  United  States  and  the  authorities 
of  Georgia.  But  there  was  a  difficulty  in  the  way  not  previously  con- 
templated. Colonels  John  S.  Mclntosh,  David  Emanuel  Twiggs, 
and  Duncan  Clinch,  each  commanded  regiments  in  the  South. 
Twiggs  and  Mclntosh  were  native  Georgians.  Clinch  was  a  North 
Carolinian,  but  was  a  resident  of  Florida.  Zachary  Taylor  was  the 
lieutenant-colonel  of  Clinch's  regiment.  He  was  a  Virginian  by 
birth,  but  resided  in  Mississippi.  All  were  Southern  men  in  feeling, 
as  well  as  by  birth,  and  all  JefTersonian  Republicans,  politically. 
Mclntosh  and  Twiggs  were  fanatical  in  their  devotion  to  the  State  of 
their  birth.  The  ancestors  of  both  were  among  the  first  settlers,  and 
both  were  identified  with  her  history.  The  three  wrote  a  joint  letter 
to  the  President,  tendering  their  commissions,  if  ordered  to  take  arms 
against  Georgia.  This  letter  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  one  who 
was  influential  with  Mr.  Adams,  to  be  delivered  immediately  after 
the  order  should  be  issued  to  General  Gaines  to  prevent  by  force  of 
arms  the  survey  ordered  by  Governor  Troup.  Troup  had  classified 
the  militia,  and  signified  his  intention  to  carry  out,  if  necessary,  the 
first-negotiated  treaty,  by  force  of  arms,  as  the  law  of  the  land. 

It  was,  unquestionably,  the  prudence  of  this  friend  which  pre- 
vented a  collision.  He  communicated  with  Mr.  Adams  confiden- 
tially, and  implored  him  not  to  issue  the  order.  He  assured  him 
that  a  collision  was  inevitable  if  he  did,  and  caused  him  to  pause 
and  consult  his  advisers,  who  declared  their  conviction  that  the  first 
treaty  was  the  law  of  the  land,  and  that  Georgia  held  vested  rights 
under  it.  In  obedience  to  this  advice,  Mr.  Adams  made  no  further 
effort  to  prevent  the  action  of  Georgia,  and  the  lands  were  surveyed 
and  disposed  of  by  the  State,  under  and  according  to  the  terms  of 
the  first  treaty,  and  she  retains  a  large  strip  of  territory  that  would 
have  been  lost  to  her  under  the  last  treaty.  My  information  of  these 
facts  was  derived  from  Twiggs,  Clinch,  and  Henry  Clay.  Who 
the  friend  was  to  whom  the  letter  was  intrusted,  I  never  knew.  I 
mentioned  to  Mr.  Clay  the  facts,  and  he  stated  that  they  were  true, 
but  no  knowledge  of  them  ever  came  to  him  until  the  expiration  of 
Mr.  Adams'  Administration.  General  Taylor  stated  to  me  that  long 
after  these  events  had  transpired,  and  after  the  resignation  of  Colonel 


FIFTY     YEARS.  1^5 

Clinch,  General  Twiggs  had  made  the  communication  to  him.  As 
nearly  as  I  can  remember,  Twiggs  made  the  statement  to  me  in 
the  language  I  have  used  here.  On  returning  from  the  ratification 
meeting,  at  Canton,  of  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Clay  for  the  Presi- 
dency, in  1844,  before  we  reached  Baltimore,  I  was  in  a  carriage 
with  General  Clinch  and  Senator  Barrow,  of  Louisiana,  and  stated 
these  facts,  and  Clinch  verified  them. 

General  Gaines  was,  of  all  men,  the  most  unfit  for  a  position  like 
that  in  which  he  was  placed.  He  was  a  good  fighter,  a  chivalrous, 
brave  man  ;  but  he  was  weak  and  vain,  and  without  tact  or  discre- 
tion. His  intentions  were,  at  all  "times,  pure,  but  want  of  judgment 
frequently  placed  him  in  unpleasant  positions.  The  condition  of 
the  minds  of  the  people  of  Georgia,  at  this  time,  was  such,  that  very 
little  was  necessary  to  excite  them  to  acts  of  open  strife,  and  had  Mr. 
Adams  been  less  considerate  than  he  was,  there  is  now  no  telling 
what  would  have  been  the  consequence.  He  was  extremely  unpop- 
ular at  the  South,  and  this,  added  to  the  inflamed  condition  of  public 
opinion  there,  would  assuredly  have  brought  on  a  collision.  Had  it 
come,  it  might  have  resulted  in  a  triumph  of  Southern  principles, 
which,  at  a  later  day,  and  under  less  auspicious  circumstances,  strug- 
gled for  existence,  only  to  be  crushed  perhaps  forever. 

It  was  universally  the  wish  of  the  people  of  Georgia  to  have  pos- 
session of  the  land  properly  belonging  to  her,  and  but  for  their  fac- 
tious divisions,  the  hazards  of  a  conflict  between  the  troops  of  the 
United  States  and  those  of  Georgia  would  have  been  more  imminent. 
It  was  believed  by  both  these  factions,  that  whoever  should,  as  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State,  succeed  in  obtaining  these  lands,  would  thereby  be 
rendered  eminently  popular,  and  secure  to  his  faction  the  ascendency 
in  the  State  for  all  time.  The  faction  supporting  Clarke  believed 
he  would  certainly  triumph  in  the  coming  contest  before  the  people, 
and  assumed  to  believe  that  then  the  matter  of  acquisition  would  be 
easy,  as  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Adams  supposed  that  faction 
could,  by  thatjneans,  be  brought  into  the  support  of  the  party  now 
being  formed  about  it.  Clarke  and  many  of  his  leading  friends  were 
coquetting  with  the  Administration.  He  was  —  as  was  his  brother- 
in-law,  Duncan  G.  Campbell  —  a  strong  friend  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  who 
was  then  the  Vice-President.  National  parties  were  inchoate,  and 
many  politicians  were  chary  of  choosing,  and  seemed  to  wait  for  the 
development  of  coming  events,  ere  they  gave  shape  and  direction  to 


136  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

their  future  courses.  It  was  certain  that  Mr.  Clay  was  identified  with 
the  American  System,  and  that  would,  in  a  great  degree,  be  the  lead- 
ing policy  of  the  Administration.  Mr.  Calhoun,  when  Secretary  of 
War,  under  Mr.  Monroe, .  had  made  a  strong  report  in  favor  of 
internal  improvements  by  the  General  Government,  within  the  limits 
of  the  States,  and,  while  a  member  of  Congress,  had  made  an  equally 
strong  one  in  favor  of  a  national  bank.  These  were  two  of  the  promi- 
nent features  of  the  American  system,  and  it  was  generally  believed 
that  this  policy  would  be  too  popular  to  combat.  It  had  originated 
during  the  Administration  of  Monroe,  and  if  it  had  the  opposition 
of  any  member  of  his  Cabinet,  it  was  unknown  to  the  country.  Mr. 
Crawford  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  as  well  as  Mr.  Adams,  were  members 
of  that  Cabinet,  and  were  all,  in  some  degree,  committed  to  this 
policy ;  for*  Mr.  Crawford,  as  a  Senator  from  Georgia,  during  the 
Administration  of  Mr.  Madison,  had  sustained  the  doctrine  of  the 
constitutionality  and  the  policy  of  a  national  bank,  in  one  of  the  very 
ablest  speeches  ever  made  upon  the  subject,  saying  everything  which 
could  or  can  be  said  in  favor  of  such  a  government  financial  agent, 
and  refuting  every  objection  of  its  opponents.  From  this  speech  is 
derived  every  argument  and  every  idea  of  both  the  reports  of  Cal- 
houn and  McDuffie,  which  were  heralded  to  the  nation  as  greater 
even  than  that  of  Mr.  Dallas,  who,  with  Robert  Morris,  may  be  said 
to  be  the  fathers  of  this  institution.  Mr.  Clay  had,  in  one  of  his 
ablest  speeches,  opposed  th'e  bank  at  a  former  time,  and  his  change 
of  opinion  was  now  well  known. 

It  was  very  well  understood  that  the  coming  men  were  Clay,  Jack- 
son, and  Calhoun.  Clarke  and  his  friends  were  ardent  supporters 
of  Calhoun,  and  it  was  thought  they  had  won  the  favor  of  the  Admin- 
istration. Mr.  Clay  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  execution  of  the 
old  treaty,  and  had,  by  this  means,  drawn  upon  himself  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  Crawford,  or  Troup  party.  These  facts  show  the  condi- 
tion of  public  opinion  in  the  State,  and  conclusively  establish  the 
fact,  that  but  for  this  division  of  the  people,  and  the  check  held  by 
this  upon  the  action  of  the  masses  and  their  leaders,  fearful  conse- 
quences would  assuredly  have  ensued. 

The  reasons  influencing  the  joint  action  of  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr. 
Clay  in  opposition  to  the  execution  of  the  old  treaty  were  very  dif- 
ferent. Mr.  Clay  was  honest  and  patriotic.  He  had  no  ulterior 
views  to  subserve.  His  policy  was  national.  He  desired  the  pros- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  137 

pcrity  and  advancement  of  his  country  to  greatness  and  power 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  His  fame  was  that  of  the  nation ; 
already  it  was  identified  with  it.  His  ambition  was  a  noble  and  a 
grand  one.  He  wished  his  name  identified  with  his  acts,  and  these 
to  constitute  the  fame  and  glory  of  the  nation.  He  ever  felt  what 
subsequently  he  so  nobly  expressed,  "  That  he  would  rather  be  right 
than  be  President."  He  had  no  petty  selfishness  — no  pitiful  revenges 
to  exhaust  with  the  hand  of  power  —  no  contemptible  motives  for 
elevating  or  advancing  the  interests  of  one  section  of  his  country  by 
oppressing  another.  "All  his  aims  were  his  country's,"  and  his 
whole  country's.  He  desired  that  every  act  of  that  country  should 
bear  the  broadest  light,  and  challenge  the  closest  and  most  search- 
ing scrutiny ;  that  each  should  be  a  new  and  brighter  gem  in  the 
diadem  of  her  glory,  and  that  her  magnanimity  should  be  most  con- 
spicuous in  her  transactions  with  the  weakest.  This  he  especially 
desired,  and  labored  to  effect,  in  all  her  transactions  with  the  Indians. 
He  viewed  these  as  the  primitive  proprietors  of  the  soil,  and  posses- 
sors of  the  entire  country.  He  knew  they  were  fading  away  before 
a  civilization  they  were  by  nature  incapacitated  to  emulate,  and  this, 
he  felt,  was  in  obedience  to  the  inexorable  laws  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence ;  and,  in  the  wonderfully  capacious  compassion  of  his  nature, 
he  desired,  in  the  accomplishment  of  this  fate,  that  no  act  of  national 
injustice  to  them  should  stain  the  nation's  escutcheon,  and  determined 
to  signalize  this  desire  in  every  act  of  his  when  giving  form  and  shape 
to  national  policy.  He  had  generously  lent  a  listening  ear  to  the 
protests  of  the  chiefs,  seconded  by  that  of  their  agent,  and  sincerely 
believed  the  treaty  had  been  effected  by  fraud,  and  was  wrong  and 
oppressive,  and,  therefore,  he  opposed  its  execution,  and  was  the 
main  instrument  in  forming  a  new  one.  The  draft  of  this  was  from 
his  own  pen,  and  he  was  solicitous  that  it  should  supersede  the  old 
one,  as  an  expression  of  the  Indians'  desire. 

Mr.  Adams  was,  equally  with  Mr.  Clay,  opposed  to  the  treaty  as 
ratified,  though,  as  was  his  constitutional  duty,  he  had  sent  the  instru- 
ment for  the  action  of  the  Senate.  In  heart  he  was  opposed  to  any 
treaty  which  would  remove  the  aborigines  from  this  territory  at  this 
time,  and,  in  consequence  of  the  action  of  Georgia,  it  was  antici- 
pated that,  at  no  very  distant  day,  the  entire  Indian  population  east 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  in  the  South,  would  be  removed,  unless 
some  policy  of  the  Government  should  be  adopted  which  would  pre- 
12* 


138  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

vent  it ;  and  those  of  the  North,  who  felt  desirous  of  crippling  the 
territorial  progress  of  the  South,  and,  of  consequence,  her  augmenta- 
tion of  population,  supposed  the  most  effectual  means  of  accomplish- 
ing this  would  be  to  educate  and  Christianize  the  Indian.  To  do 
this,  they  insisted  he  must  remain  upon  the  territory  he  now  occu- 
pied. This  would  bring  him  into  immediate  contact  with  the 
civilized  white,  where  he  could  be  most  readily  approached  by  mis- 
sionaries and  schoolmasters,  and  be  instructed  by  the  force  of 
example.  At  the  same  time,  he  was  to  remain  under  the  sole  pro- 
tection of  the  United  States  Government,  without  any  of  the  privi- 
leges of  civil  government  to  be  exercised  as  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  or  the  State  upon  whose  soil  he  was  located.  This  was  enno- 
bled as  the  sentiment  of  Christian  benevolence,  while  its  real  inten- 
tion was  to  withhold  the  land  from  the  occupancy  of  the  people  of 
Georgia,  and  in  so  much  retard  the  growth  and  increase  of  the 
white  population  of  the  State.  To  carry  out  this  scheme,  missionary 
establishments  sprang  up  among  the  Indians  in  every  part  of  the 
South,  but  especially  within  the  limits  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  filled 
with  Northern  fanatics,  who  employed  themselves  most  actively  in 
prejudicing  the  minds  of  the  savages  against  the  people  who  were 
their  neighbors,  and  preparing  them  to  refuse  to  treat  for  the  sale  of 
any  of  their  territory. 

It  has  ever  been  the  practice  of  the  Puritan  to  propagate  the  vilest 
heresies,  and  for  the  vilest  purposes,  under  the  name  of  philanthropy 
and  religion.  It  has  burned  its  enemy  at  the  stake,  as,  assembled 
around,  they  sang  psalms,  and  sanctified  the  vilest  cruelties  with  the 
name  of  God's  vengeance.  It  was  their  great  prototype,  Cotton 
Mather,  who  blasphemously  proclaimed,  after  the  most  inhuman 
massacre  of  several  hundred  Indians,  that  they,  the  Puritans  of 
Massachusetts,  "  had  sent,  as  a  savory  scent  to  the  nostrils  of  God, 
two  hundred  or  more  of  the  reeking  souls  of  the  godless  heathen." 

This,  ostensibly,  was  deemed  a  pious  act,  and  a  discharge  of  a 
pious  duty,  when,  in  truth,  the  only  motive  was  to  take  his  home 
and  country,  and  appropriate  it  to  their  own  people.  It  seems 
almost  impossible  to  the  race  to  come  squarely  up  to  truth  and 
honesty,  in  word  or  act,  in  any  transaction,  as  a  man  or  as  a  people. 
Sinister  and  subtle,  expediency,  and  not  principle,  seems  to  be  their 
universal  rule  of  action.  Cold  and  passionless,  incapable  of  gen- 
erous emotions,  he  is  necessarily  vindictive  and  cruel.  Patient  and 


4 


FIFTYYEARS.  139 

persevering,  bigoted  and  selfish^eschewing  as  a  crime  an  honorable 
resentment,  he  creeps  to  his  ends  like  a  serpent,  with  all  his  cunning 
and  all  his  venom. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  in  his  nature,  was  much  more  like  his  mother 
than  his  father.  His  features  were  those  of  his  mother,  and  the  cold, 
persevering  hatred  of  his  nature  was  hers.  From  his  boyhood  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  recording,  for  future  use,  the  most  confidential 
conversations  of  his  friends,  as  also  all  that  incautiously  fell  from  an 
occasional  interview  with  those  less  intimate.  Had  this  been  done 
for  future  reference  only  to  establish  facts  in  his  own  mind,  there 
could  have  been  no  objection  to  the  act ;  but  this  was  not  the  motive. 
These  memoranda  were  to  rise  up  in  vengeance  when  necessary  to 
gratify  his  spleen  or  vengeance.  He  was  naturally  suspicious.  He 
gave  no  man  his  confidence,  and  won  the  friendship  of  no  one. 
Malignant  and  unforgiving,  he  watched  his  opportunity,  and  never 
failed  to  gratify  his  revengeful  nature,  whenever  his  victim  was  in 
his  power.  The  furtive  wariness  of  his  small  gray  eye,  his  pinched 
nose,  receding  forehead,  and  thin,  compressed  lips,  indicated  the 
malignant  nature  of  his  soul.  Unfaithful  to  friends,  and  only  con- 
stant in  selfishness  —  unconscious  of  obligation,  and  ungrateful  for 
favors  —  fanatical  only  in  hatred  —  pretending  to  religious  morality, 
yet  pursuing  unceasingly,  with  merciless  revenge,  those  whom  he 
supposed  to  be  his  enemies,  he  combined  all  the  elements  of  Puritan 
bigotry  and  Puritan  hate  in  devilish  intensity.  He  deserted  the 
Federal  party  in  their  greatest  need,  and  meanly  betrayed  them  to 
Mr.  Jefferson,  whom,  from  his  boyhood,  he  had  hated  and  reviled 
in  doggerel  rhymes  and  the  bitterest  prose  his  genius  could  suggest. 

The  conduct  of  Mr.  Adams,  after  he  had  been  President,  as  the 
representative  of  Massachusetts  in  Congress,  is  the  best  evidence  of 
the  motives  which  influenced  his  conduct  in  the  matter  of  these  two 
treaties.  He  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  assail  the  interests  and 
the  institutions  of  the  South.  He  hated  her,  and  to  him,  more  than 
to  any  other,  is  due  the  conduct  of  the  Northern  people  toward  the 
South  which  precipitated  the  late  war,  and  has  destroyed  the  har- 
mony once  existing  between  the  people. 

His  father  had  been  repudiated  by  the  South  for  a  more  trusted 
son  of  her  own.  This  was  a  treasured  hatred  ;  and  when  he  shared 
his  father's  fate,  this  became  the  pervading  essence  of  his  nature. 

He  returned  to  Congress,  after  his  defeat  for  the  Presidency,  for 


140  THE     MEM  OKIES     OF 

no  other  purpose  than  to  give  shap£  and  direction  to  a  sentiment 
which  he  felt  must  ultimately  result  in  her  ruin,  and  to  accomplish 
this  he  was  more  than  willing  to  hazard  that  of  the  Government. 
He  felt,  should  this  follow,  his  own  people  would  be  in  a  condition 
to  dictate  and  control  a  government  of  their  own  creation,  and 
which  should  embody  their  peculiar  views,  rather  than  the  pure  and 
unselfish  principles  enunciated  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  preserved  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

The  sagacity  of  George  M.  Troup  was  the  first  to  discover  this  in 
his  conduct  as  President,  and  to  sound  the  alarm  as  Governor  of 
Georgia.  He  came  directly  in  contact  with  him,  and  determined  he 
should  be  defeated  in  one  of  his  means  for  injury  to  the  South. 
Troup  knew  and  felt  the  right  was  with  him,  and  maintained  it  with 
the  honest  boldness  of  a  true  man.  He  triumphed,  and  the  doc- 
trine of  State  rights  was  rescued  from  a  fatally  aimed  blow,  and 
reaffirmed,  gave  renewed  popularity  and  strength  to  its  supporters. 
The  election  of  General  Jackson  soon  after  followed,  and,  as  the 
embodiment  of  the  principle,  rallied  around  him  its  supporters  from 
every  section.  With  these,  and  his  immense  popularity  personally,  he 
scotched,  for  a  time,  the  Puritan  snake  ;  but,  true  to  its  instincts,  it 
struggled  to  bite,  though  its  head  was  off. 

Mr.  Adams  saw  in  Troup  a  strong  and  uncompromising  foe ;  he 
knew,  too,  the  right  was  with  him,  and  that  if  pushed  to  extremities 
the  result  would  be  damaging  to  his  fame,  as  having,  in  persevering 
for  the  wrong,  destroyed  the  Government,  and  at  a  time,  too,  when 
every  benefit  from  such  destruction  would  inure  to  the  South. 
Under  the  circumstances  his  course  was  taken  :  he  dared  not  consult 
or  trust  Mr.  Clay  with  the  real  motives  which  influenced  him  to  yield, 
and  made  a  virtue  of  patriotism  and  magnanimity  which  cloaked  his 
pusillanimity,  and  shielded  from  public  view  his  envenomed  chagrin. 

It  was  doubtless  this  triumph  which  secured  the  second  election 
of  Troup.  Personally  he  was  unpopular  with  the  masses.  His 
rearing  had  been  in  polished  society,  and  though  he  was  in  principle 
a  democrat,  in  his  feelings,  bearing,  and  associations  he  was  an  aris- 
tocrat. He  accorded  equality  to  all  under  the  law  and  in  political 
privilege,  but  he  chose  to  select  his  associates,  and  admitted  none  to 
the  familiarity  of  intimacy  but  men  of  high  breeding  and  unques- 
tioned honor.  In  many  things  he  was  peculiar  and  somewhat 
eccentric.  In  dress,  especially  so  — often  appearing  in  midwinter 


FIFTY     YEARS.  14! 

in  light,  summer  apparel;  and  again,  in  summer,  with  a  winter 
cloak  wrapped  carefully  about  him.  When  he  appeared  first  before 
the  assembled  Legislature,  and  many  of  the  first  citizens  of  the  State, 
to  take  the  oath  of  office,  it  was  a  raw,  cold  day  in  November:  his 
dress  was  a  round  jacket  of  coarse  cotton,  black  cassimere  vest, 
yellow  nankeen  pantaloons,  silk  hose,  and  dancing-pumps,  with  a 
large-rimmed  white  hat,  well  worn.  In  his  address,  which  was  short 
and  most  beautiful,  he  made  his  hat  conspicuous  by  holding  it  in 
his  right  hand,  and  waving  it  with  every  gesture.  In  person,  he  was 
below  the  middle  size,  slender,  though  finely  formed ;  his  hair  was 
red,  and  his  eyes  intensely  blue  and  deeply  set  beneath  a  heavy 
brow;  his  nose  was  prominent  and  aquiline;  his  mouth,  the  great 
feature  of  his  face,  was  Grecian  in  mould,  with  flexible  lips,-  which, 
while  in  repose,  seemed  to  pout.  His  rabid  opposition  to  those 
engaged  in  the  Yazoo  frauds,  and  his  hatred  for  those  who  defended 
it,  made  him  extremely  obnoxious  to  them,  and  prompted  Dooly  to 
say:  "Nature  had  formed  his  mouth  expressly  to  say,  'Yazoo.'" 
Its  play,  when  speaking,  was  tremulous,  with  a  nervous  twitching, 
which  gave  an  agitated  intonation  to  his  words  very  effective. 

The  form  of  his  head,  and  especially  his  forehead,  indicated  an 
imaginative  mind,  while  the  lines  of  his  face  marked  deep  thought. 
He  was  strictly  honest  in  everything;  was  opposed  to  anything  which 
wore  the  appearance  of  courting  public  favor,  or  seemed  like  a  desire 
for  office.  His  private  life  was  exemplary,  kind,  and  indulgent  to 
his  children  and  servants,  and  full  of  charity;  severe  upon  nothing 
but  the  assumptions  of  folly,  and  the  wickedness  of  purpose  in  the 
dishonest  heart.  In  every  relation  of  life  he  discharged  its  duties 
conscientiously,  and  was  the  enemy  only  of  the  vicious  and  wicked. 
He  continued  to  reside  upon  his  plantation  in  Lawrence  County  with 
his  slaves,  carefully  providing  for  their  every  want  until  his  death. 
He  had  attained  the  patriarchal  age  of  threescore  years  and  ten, 
and  sank  to  rest  in  the  solitude  of  his  forest-home,  peacefully  and 
piously,  leaving  no  enemies,  and  all  the  people  of  his  State  to  mourn 
him. 


142  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

CHAPTER   XI. 

POLITICAL    CHANGES. 

ASPIRANTS  FOR  CONGRESS  — A  NEW  ORGANIZATION  —  Two  PARTIES  — A 
PROTECTIVE  TARIFF— UNITED  STATES  BANK  — THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM  — 
INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS  —  A  GALAXY  OF  STARS  — A  SPARTAN  MOTHER'S 
ADVICE— NEGRO-DEALER  —  QUARTER  RACES  —  COCK-PITTING  —  MILITARY 
BLUNDERS  ON  BOTH  SIDES  — ABNER  GREEN'S  DAUGHTER  — ANDREW  JACK- 
SON— GWINN  — POINDEXTER  —  AD  INTERIM  — GENERALS  AS  ClVIL  RULERS. 

THE  remarkable  excitement  of  the  political  contest  between 
Troup  and  Clarke  had  the  effect  of  stimulating  the  ambition  of 
the  young  men  of  education  throughout  the  State  for  political  dis- 
tinction. For  some  time  anterior  to  this  period,  all  seemed  content  to 
permit  those  who  had  been  the  active  politicians  in  the  Republican 
struggle  with  the  Federal  party  to  fill  all  the  offices  of  distinction  in 
the  State  without  opposition.  It  would  have  been  considered  pre- 
sumptuous in  the  extreme  /or  any  young  man,  whatever  his  abilities, 
to  have  offered  himself  as  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  opposition  to 
Mr.  Forsyth,  R.  H.  Wild,  Thomas  W.  Cobb,  Edward  F.  Tatnal, 
and  men  of  like  age  and  political  faith.  The  members  of  Congress 
were  elected  by  general  ticket;  and  the  selection  of  candidates  was 
not  by  a  convention  of  the  people  or  party.  The  names  of  candi- 
dates were  generally  recommended  by  influential  parties,  and  their 
consent  to  become  candidates  obtained  through  solicitations  ad- 
dressed to  them,  and  then  published  to  the  people.  The  State  was 
so  unanimous  in  political  sentiment,  that  for  many  years  no  opposi- 
tion to  the  Republican  party  was  thought  of. 

But  now  parties  were  organizing  upon  principles,  or  rather  policies, 
entirely  new;  there  was  a  fusion  of  the  old  elements  of  party,  and 
Federalists  and  Republicans  were  side  by  side  in  this  new  organiza- 
tion. Men  who  had  been  under  the  ban,  for  opinion's  sake,  were 
coming  into  public  view  and  public  favor,  and  disclosing  great  abili- 
ties. At  the  head  of  these  was  John  McPherson  Berrien,  who,  to 
the  end  of  his  life,  was  so  distinguished  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 
At  the  same  time,  in  every  part  of  the  State,  young  men  were  rising 
up  as  men  of  promise  for  talent  and  usefulness.  These  men  arrayed 
themselves  with  either  of  the  two  parties,  as  inclination  or  interest 


FIFTY     YEARS.  143 

prompted.  Active  and  assiduous,  they  were  soon  prominent  before 
the  people,  and  a  new  era  was  commencing.  With  the  election  of 
John  Quincy  Adams,  the  State  was  in  a  blaze  and  politics  a  furor. 
Opposition  immediately  commenced  to  the  leading  measures  of  the 
Administration,  and  the  Legislature  of  1825  was  filled  with  young 
men  of  talent,  who  were  enthusiastic  and  fierce  in  their  sentiments 
and  feelings.  They  had  been  divided  as  partisans  of  Troup  and 
Clarke,  and  met  as  antagonists  in  the  Legislature ;  but  really  without 
any  defined  policy  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  administration  of  the 
General  Government  of  the  nation.  A  suspicion  filled  every  one 
that  this  policy  was  disastrous  to  Southern  interests,  and  sectional  in 
its  character,  although  designated  as  national. 

Few  men  of  the  South  had  given  much  attention  to  the  effect  a 
tariff  for  revenue  had  upon  the  commercial  and  manufacturing 
interests  of  the  North.  The  war  with  England  had  created  a  debt, 
and  this  tariff  had  been  imposed  solely  for  the  purpose  of  securing, 
not  only  a  sufficient  revenue  for  the  current  necessities  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, but  a  surplus,  which  should  in  a  short  time  liquidate  the 
public  debt.  It  was  sufficient  to  afford  protection  to  the  manufac- 
turing interests  of  the  North,  to  increase  this  into  a  formidable 
revenue,  and  to  enlist  a  national  party  in  its  support.  It  was  now,  when 
the  public  debt  was  liquidated,  that  another  reason  was  necessary  for 
continuing  a  policy  which  had  grown  up  from  the  necessities  of  the 
nation — consequently  it  was  assumed  to  be  a  national  policy  to  pro- 
mote national  independence,  and  protection  was  claimed  for  national 
industry  against  European  competition.  This  policy  in  the  Govern- 
ment would  encourage  extravagance,  waste,  and  corruption  —  such 
a  bane  to  republics  —  because  it  would  create  an  immense  surplus  in 
the  national  treasury,  unless  some  scheme  for  its  expenditure  could 
be  devised  which  should  seem  to  promote  the  national  interest.  To 
this  end,  the  party  of  the  Administration  claimed  a  constitutional 
power  in  Congress  to  carry  on  a  system  of  internal  improvements ; 
and  heavy  appropriations  were  made  for  this  purpose,  not  only 
absorbing  the  surplus  revenue,  but  creating  a  necessity  for  more  — 
and  this  necessity  was  an  excuse  for  increasing  the  tariff. 

The  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  the  depository  of  the  moneys 
of  the  nation  and  her  disbursing  agent.  The  constitutionality  of  this 
institution  had  been  a  mooted  question  from  the  day  it  was  first  pro- 
posed by  Robert  Morris.  Mr.  Madison,  who  was  a  Republican,  had 


144  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

at  one  time  vetoed  it;  at  another,  approved  it.  Mr.  Crawford,  a  most 
inveterate  States-rights  man  and  strict  constructionist  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, had  uniformly  supported  it.  Mr.  Clay  had  both  supported  and 
opposed  it.  The  question  was  finally  adjudicated  by  the  Supreme 
Court,  and,  so  far  as  that  decision  could  make  it,  was  decided  to  be 
constitutional.  This,  however,  did  not  satisfy  the  Republican  or 
States-rights  party ;  a  large  majority  of  whom  always  insisted  upon 
its  unconstitutionality.  At  the  time  of  its  creation,  a  necessity  existed 
for  some  such  institution,  to  aid  the  Government  in  its  financial  opera- 
tions, and  at  the  time  of  the  renewal  of  its  charter  the  Government  had 
just  emerged  from  a  war ;  every  State  was  creating  banks,  and  the 
country  was  flooded  with  an  irredeemable  and  worthless  currency, 
disturbing  commerce,  unsettling  values,  and  embarrassing  the  Govern- 
ment. A  power  was  wanted  somewhere  to  control  these  State  banks, 
and  to  give  a  redeemable  and  uniform  currency  to  the  country. 

The  State  banks  had  proved  destructive  to-  the  public  interest ; 
with  no  power  to  restrain  their  issues  except  that  imposed  by  their 
charters  and  the  honesty  of  their  officers  —  a  frail  security  for  the 
public,  as  experience  had  attested.  The  example  of  Washington 
was  pleaded  by  the  advocates  of  the  bank.  At  the  very  outset  it  had 
been  opposed  for  want  of  constitutionality.  Washington  had  doubted 
it,  and  submitted  the  question  to  two  of  his  Cabinet  —  Mr.  Jefferson 
and  Mr.  Hamilton.  They  were  divided  in  opinion  —  Mr.  Jefferson 
opposing,  and  Mr.  Hamilton  sustaining  the  constitutionality  of  the 
measure.  The  opinion  and  argument  of  Hamilton  prevailed,  and 
the  act  creating  a  bank  received  the  Executive  approval. 

It  answered  admirably  the  object  of  its  creation,  and  the  Repub- 
lican party  (then  in  embryo)  acquiesced.  Indeed,  at  this  time,  there 
could  scarcely  be  said  to  be  a  party  separate  from  the  Government. 
Mr.  Hamilton  and  Mr.  Jefferson  were  the  leaders  of  the  parties 
which  divided  the  people  upon  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and 
these  parties,  though  at  this  time  inchoate,  were  concreting  about 
these  two  wonderful  men.  Upon  the  renewal  of  the  charter  of 
the  United  States  Bank,  during  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Madi- 
son, the  Republican  party  again  mooted  its  constitutionality;  but 
its  undisputed  usefulness  had  won  for  it  immense  popularity,  and 
there  were  many  who,  though  acting  with  the  Republicans,  were 
willing  (as  Washington  had  approved  it,  and  the  Supreme  Court  had 


FIFTY     YEARS.  145 

pronounced  it  constitutional)  to  view  the  question  as  settled,  and 
vote  to  renew  the  charter. 

It  was  subsequent  to  the  veto  of  Mr.  Madison  (when  he  had  recon- 
sidered his  action,  and  recommended  the  re-chartering  of  the  bank,) 
that  debates  ensued,  in  which  the  question  was  exhausted.  In  these 
debates,  Mr.  Crawford,  Mr.  Clay,  Felix  Grundy,  William  B.  Giles, 
and  Mr.  Calhoun  led.  They  were  continued  through  several  ses- 
sions, up  to  1816,  when  they  ultimated  in  the  chartering  of  the 
last  bank  of  the  United  States.  This  charter  expired  during  the 
Administration  of  General  Jackson,  and  by  him  the  bank  was  finally 
crushed. 

Three  great  measures  constituted  what  was  then  termed  the  Ameri- 
can System  —  the  United  States  Bank,  a  protective  tariff,  and  internal 
improvements  within  the  States  by  the  General  Government.  An 
opposition  to  this  party  was  formed  at  the  very  outset  of  the  Adams 
Administration.  This  opposition  denied  the  constitutional  power  of 
Congress  to  create  or  sustain  either. 

The  South,  at  the  commencement  of  this  opposition,  was  almost 
alone.  The  North  was  a  unit  in  its  support  of  the  Administration, 
because  its  policy  was  vital  to  her  interests.  The  West,  influenced 
by  Mr.  Clay,  was  greatly  in  the  majority  in  its  support.  The  South- 
ern opposition  seemed  almost  hopeless ;  and  to  this  cause  may,  in 
a  great  degree,  be  ascribed  the  bringing  forth  to  public  view  the 
transcendent  abilities  of  the  young  men  aspiring  for  fame  in  Georgia, 
and  in  the  South  generally.  McDuflfie,  Hamilton,  Holmes,  and 
Waddy  Thompson,  of  South  Carolina;  Colquett,  Cobb,  Toombs, 
Stephens,  Johnson,  Nesbit,  and  John  P.  King,  of  Georgia;  Wise, 
Bocock,  Hunter,  Summers,  Rives,  and  others  of  Virginia ;  Man- 
gum,  Badger,  and  Graham,  of  North  Carolina;  Bell,  Foster,  Pey- 
ton, Nicholson,  and  James  K.  Polk,  of  Tennessee  ;  King  and  Lewis, 
of  Alabama;  Porter,  Johnston,  White,  and  Barrow,  of  Louisiana; 
Ashley,  Johnson,  and  Sevier,  of  Arkansas ;  Chase,  Pugh,  Pendle- 
ton,  and  Lytell,  of  Ohio;  and  Douglas,  Trumbull,  and  Lincoln,  of 
Illinois,  were  all  men  of  sterling  talent,  and  were  about  equally 
divided  in  political  sentiment.  Kentucky  had  Tom  and  Humphrey 
Marshall,  Crittenden,  Menifer,  Letcher,  Breckinridge,  and  Preston. 

General  Jackson  was  now  the  avowed  candidate  of  the  States- 
rights  party,  which  soon  after  assumed  the  name  of  Democratic,  and 
his  political  principles  and  great  personal  popularity  were  not  only 
U  K 


j  46  THE     MEM  OKIES     OF 

dividing  the  West,  but  the  Middle  States,  and  even  those  of  New 
England. 

During  the  entire  administration  of  Adams,  there  was  a  majority 
in  Congress  supporting  his  policy.  It  was  then  and  there  that  the 
great  battle  for  supremacy  was  fought.  Berrien  and  Forsyth,  from 
Georgia,  in  the  Senate;  McDuffie  and  Preston,  from  South  Carolina; 
Cass,  from  Michigan,  and  Van  Buren  and  Silas  Wright,  from  New 
York  —  all  giants  in  intellect.  But  there  were  Webster  and  John 
Davis,  from  Massachusetts,  George  Evans,  from  Maine,  and  others 
of  minor  powers,  but  yet  great  men.  Between  these  great  minds  the 
conflict  was  stupendous.  Every  means  were  put  into  requisition  to 
sustain  the  Administration  and  its  policy,  but  all  were  unavailing  — 
'General  Jackson  was  elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  Mr. 
'Clay  was  immediately  returned  by  Kentucky  to  the  Senate,  and 
organized  an  opposition  upon  the  policy  of  the  late  Administration, 
led  on  by  himself  and  Webster.  The  memory  of  those  days,  and 
the  men  who  made  them  memorable,  flits  vividly  before  me  ;  but  I 
am  not  writing  a  history,  and  can  attempt  no  order,  but  shall  write 
on  as  these  memories  of  men  and  events  shall  seem  to  me  most 
interesting  in  their  character  to  the  general  reader. 

General  Jackson  was  one  of  those  rare  creations  of  nature  which 
appear  at  long  intervals,  to  astonish  and  delight  mankind.  It  seems 
to  be  settled  in  the  public  mind  that  he  was  born  in  South  Carolina; 
but  there  is  no  certainty  of  the  fact.  His  early  life  was  very  ob- 
scure, and  he  himself  was  uncertain  of  his  birth-place,  though  he 
believed  it  was  South  Carolina.  He  remembered  the  removal  of  his 
family  from  South  Carolina,  and  many  of  the  incidents  of  the  war 
of  the  Revolution  transpiring  there ;  but  more  especially  those 
occurring  in  North  Carolina,  to  which  the  family  removed.  Judge 
Alexander  Porter,  of  Louisiana,  was  an  Irishman,  and  from  the 
neighborhood  where  were  born  and  reared  the  parents  of  Jackson. 
His  own  father  was  brutally  executed  at  Vinegar  Hill,  by  sentence  of 
a  drum-head  court  martial,  in  1798,  and  his  family  proscribed  by  the 
British  Government.  With  his  uncle,  the  Rowans,  the  Jacksons,  and 
some  others,  he  emigrated  to  America,  and  settled  at  Nashville, 
Tennessee.  The  Jacksons  were  of  the  same  family,  and  distantly 
connected  with  General  Jackson.  Great  intimacy  existed  between 
this  family  and  General  Jackson  for  many  years. 

Judge  Porter,  of  whom  I  shall  hereafter  have  something  to  say, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  147 

visited  Europe  a  short  time  before  his  death,  and  made  diligent 
search  into  the  history  of  the  Jackson  family,  without  ascertaining 
anything  positively :  he  learned  enough  to  satisfy  his  own  mind  that 
Andrew  Jackson  was  born  in  Ireland,  and  brought  to  the  United 
States  by  his  parents  when  only  two  years  old.  This  was  also  the 
opinion  of  Thomas  Crutcher,  who  came  with  General  Jackson  to 
Nashville,  and  it  was  also  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Boyd  McNary  and  his 
elder  brother,  Judge  McNary,  who  believed  he  was  four  years  older 
than  he  supposed  himself  to  be. 

The  McNarys  came  with  him  from  North  Carolina.  On  the  trip 
a  difficulty  occurred  between  Boyd  McNary  and  Jackson,  which 
never  was  reconciled  —  both  dying  in  extreme  old  age.  Boyd 
McNary  stopped  at  Lexington  and  read  medicine,  forming  there 
the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Clay  and  Felix  Grundy.  The  intimacy 
which  sprang  up  between  Clay  and  McNary  was  as  ardent  and 
imperishable  as  the  hatred  between  himself  and  Jackson,  enduring 
until  death.  Jackson  was  enterprising  and  eminently  self-reliant ;  in 
all  matters  pertaining  to  himself,  he  was  his  own  counsellor;  he 
advised  with  no  man  ;  cool  and  quick  in  thought,  he  seemed  to  leap 
to  conclusions,  and  never  went  back  from  them.  An  anecdote  rela- 
tive to  his  parting  from  his  mother  in  his  outset  in  life,  illustrates  this 
as  prominent  in  the  attributes  of  his  nature  at  that  time.  The  writer 
heard  him  narrate  this  after  his  return  from  Washington,  when  his 
last  term  in  the  Presidential  office  had  expired. 

When  about  to  emigrate  to  Tennessee,  the  family  were  residing  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Greensboro',  North  Carolina. 

"I  had,"  said  he,  "contemplated  this  step  for  some  months,  and 
had  made  my  arrangements  to  do  so,  and  at  length  had  obtained  my 
mother's  consent  to  it.  All  my  worldly  goods  were  a  few  dollars  in 
my  purse,  some  clothes  in  my  saddle-bags,  a  pretty  good  horse, 
saddle,  and  bridle.  The  country  to  which  I  was  going  was  com- 
paratively a  wilderness,  and  the  trip  a  long  one,  beset  by  many 
difficulties,  especially  from  the  Indians.  I  felt,  and  so  did  my 
mother,  that  we  were  parting  forever.  I  knew  she  would  not 
recall  her  promise ;  there  was  too  much  spunk  in  her  for  that, 
and  this  caused  me  to  linger  a  day  or  two  longer  than  I  had 
intended. 

"But  the  time  came  for  the  painful  parting.  My  mother  was  a 
little,  dumpy,  red-headed  Irish  woman.  '  Well,  mother,  I  am  ready 


148  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

to  leave,  and  I  must  say  farewell.'    She  took  my  hand,  and  pressing 
it,  said,  '  Farewell,'  and  her  emotion  choked  her. 

"  Kissing  at  meetings  and  partings  in  that  day  was  not  so  common 
as  now.  I  turned  from  her  and  walked  rapidly  to  my  horse. 

"As  I  was  mounting  him,  she  came  out  of  the  cabin  wiping  her 
eyes  with  her  apron,  and  came  to  the  getting-over  place  at  the  fence. 
'Andy,'  said  she,  (she  always  called  me  Andy,)  '  you  are  going  to 
a  new  country,  and  among,  a  rough  people ;  you  will  have  to 
depend  on  yourself  and  cut  your  own  way  through  the  world.  I 
have  nothing  to  give  you  but  a  mother's  advice.  Never  tell  a  lie, 
nor  take  what  is  not  your  own,  nor  sue  anybody  for  slander  or 
assault  and  battery.  Always  settle  them  cases  yourself '/'  I  promised, 
and  I  have  tried  to  keep  that  promise.  I  rode  off  some  two  hundred 
yards,  to  a  turn  in  the  path,  and  looked  back  —  she  was  still  standing 
at  the  fence  and  wiping  her  eyes.  I  never  saw  her  after  that." 
Those  who  knew  him  best  will  testify  to  his  fidelity  to  this  last 
promise  made  his  mother. 

The  strong  common  sense  and  unbending  will  of  Jackson  soon 
made  him  conspicuous  in  his  new  home,  and  very  soon  he  was  in 
active  practice  as  a  lawyer.  His  prominence  was  such,  that  during 
the  last  year  of  the  last  term  of  General  Washington's  Administration, 
a  vacancy  occurring  in  the  United  States  Senate  from  Tennessee, 
General  Jackson  was  appointed  to  fill  it.  He  was  occupying  this 
seat  when  General  Washington  retired  from  the  Presidency,  and, 
with  William  B.  Giles,  of  Virginia,  voted  against  a  resolution  of 
thanks  tendered  by  Congress  to  Washington,  for  his  services  to  the 
country.  For  this  vote  he  gave  no  reason  at  the  time ;  and  if  he 
ever  did,  it  has  escaped  my  knowledge. 

The  career  of  General  Jackson,  as  a  public  man,  is  so  well  known, 
that  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  review  it  in  this  place ;  but  many  inci- 
dents of  his  private  history  have  come  to  my  knowledge  from  an 
association  with  those  who  were  intimate  with  him,  from  his  first 
arrival  in  Tennessee.  These,  or  so  many  of  them  as  I  deem  of 
interest  enough  to  the  public,  I  propose  to  relate. 

Jackson  was  a  restless  and  enterprising  man,  embarking  in  many 
schemes  for  the  accumulation  of  fortune,  not  usually  resorted  to  by 
professional  men,  or  men  engaged  in  public  matters.  In  business 
he  was  cautious.  He  was  a  remarkable  judge  of  human  character, 
and  rarely  gave  his  confidence  to  untried  men.  Notwithstanding 


FIFTYYEARS.  1 49 

the  impetuosity  of  his  nature,  upon  occasion  he  could  be  as  cool  and 
as  calculating  as  a  Yankee.  The  result  was,  that  though  he  had 
many  partners  in  the  various  pursuits  he  at  different  times  resorted 
to,  he  rarely  had  any  pecuniary  difficulty  with  any  of  them.  He 
was  in  the  habit  of  trading  with  the  low  country,  that  is,  with  the 
inhabitants  of  Mississippi  and  Louisiana. 

Many  will  remember  the  charge  brought  against  him  pending  his 
candidacy  for  the  Presidency,  of  having  been,  in  early  life,  a  negro- 
trader,  or  dealer  in  slaves.  This  charge  was  strictly  true,  though 
abundantly  disproved  by  the  oaths  of  some,  and  even  by  the  certifi- 
cate of  his  principal  partner.  Jackson  had  a  small  store,  or  trading 
establishment,  at  Bruinsburgh,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Bayou  Pierre, 
in  Claiborne  County,  Mississippi.  It  was  at  this  point  he  received 
the  negroes,  purchased  by  his  partner  at  Nashville,  and  sold  them  to 
the  planters  of  the  neighborhood.  Sometimes,  when  the  price  was 
better,  or  the  sales  were  quicker,  he  carried  them  to  Louisiana. 
This,  however,  he  soon  declined  ;  because,  under  the  laws  of  Louisi- 
ana, he  was  obliged  to  guarantee  the  health  and  character  of  the 
slave  he  sold. 

On  one  occasion  he  sold  an  unsound  negro  to  a  planter  in  the 
parish  of  West  Feliciana,  and,  upon  his  guarantee,  was  sued  and 
held  to  bail  to  answer.  In  this  case  he  was  compelled  to  refund  the 
purchase-money,  with  damages.  He  went  back  upon  his  partner, 
and  compelled  him  to  share  the  loss.  This  caused  a  breach  between 
them,  which  was  never  healed.  This  is  the  only  instance  which 
ever  came  to  my  knowledge  of  strife  with  a  partner.  He  was  close 
to  his  interest,  and  spared  no  means  to  protect  it 

It  was  during  the  period  of  his  commercial  enterprise  in  Missis- 
sippi that  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  the  Green  family.  This 
family  was  among  the  very  first  Americans  who  settled  in  the  State. 
Thomas  M.  Green  and  Abner  Green  were  young  men  at  the  time, 
though  both  were  men  of  family.  To  both  of  them  Jackson,  at  dif- 
ferent times,  sold  negroes,  and  the  writer  now  has  bills  of  sale  for 
negroes  sold  to  Abner  Green,  in  the  handwriting  of  Jackson,  bearing 
his  signature,  written,  as  it  always  was,  in  large  and  bold  characters, 
extending  quite  half  across  the  sheet.  At  this  store,  which  stood 
immediately  upon  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  there  was  a  race-track, 
for  quarter-races,  (a  sport  Jackson  was  then  then  very  fond  of,)  and 
many  an  anecdote  was  rife,  forty  years  ago,  in  the  neighborhood, 
13* 


150  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

of  the  skill  of  the  old  hero  in  pitting  a  cock  or  turning  a  quarter- 
horse. 

This  spot  has  become  classic  ground.  It  was  here  Aaron  Burr 
was  first  arrested  by  Cowles  Mead,  then  acting  as  Governor  of  the 
Territory  of  Mississippi,  and  from  whom  he  made  his  escape,  and  it 
was  at  this  point  that  Grant  crossed  his  army  when  advancing  against 
Vicksburg.  It  is  a  beautiful  plateau  of  land,  of  some  two  thousand 
acres,  immediately  below  the  mouth  of  the  Bayou  Pierre,  and  bor- 
dered by  very  high  and  abrupt  cliffs,  which  belong  to  the  same 
range  of  hills  that  approach  the  river's  margin  at  Vicksburg,  Grand 
Gulf,  Rodney,  Natchez,  and  Bayou  Sara.  At  this  point  they  attain 
the  height  of  three  hundred  feet,  and  are  almost  perpendicular. 
The  summit  is  attained  by  a  circuitous  road  cut  through  the  cliffs, 
and  this  is  the  summit  level  of  the  surrounding  country. 

This  plateau  of  land,  where  once  stood  the  little  village  of  Bruins- 
burgh,  has  long  been  a  cotton  plantation,  and  a  most  valuable  one  it 
was  before  the  late  war.  A  deep,  and,  to  an  army,  impassable 
swamp  borders  it  below,  and  the  same  is  the  case  above  the  Bayou 
Pierre.  To  land  an  army  at  such  a  place,  when  its  only  means  of 
marching  upon  the  country  was  through  this  narrow  cut,  of  about 
'one  hundred  feet  in  width,  with  high,  precipitous  sides,  forming  a 
complete  defile  for  half  a  mile,  and  where  five  thousand  men  could 
have  made  its  defence  good  against  fifty  thousand,  is  certainly  as  little 
evidence  of  military  genius  as  was  the  permission  of  them  to  pass 
through  it  without  an  effort  to  prevent  it. 

To  a  military  eye,  the  blunders  of  Grant  and  Pemberton  are 
apparent  in  their  every  movement — and  the  history  of  the  siege  and 
capture  of  Vicksburg,  if  ever  correctly  written,  will  demonstrate  to 
the  world  that  folly  opposed  to  folly  marked  its  inception,  progress, 
and  finality. 

The  friends  formed  in  this  section  of  country  by  Jackson  were 
devoted  to  him  through  life,  and  when  in  after  life  he  sent  (for  it  is 
not  true  that  he  brought)  his  future  wife  to  Mississippi,  it  was  to  the 
house  of  Thomas  M.  Green,  then  residing  near  the  mouth  of  Cowles 
Creek,  and  only  a  few  miles  from  Bruinsbtirgh. 

Whatever  the  circumstances  of  the  separation,  or  the  cause  for  it, 
between  Mrs.  Jackson  and  her  first  husband,  I  am  ignorant;  I  know 
that  Jackson  was  much  censured  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  home. 
At  the  time  of  her  coming  to  Green's,  the  civil  authority  was  a  dis- 


FIFTYYEARS.  151 

pnted  one  ;  most  of  the  people  acknowledging  the  Spanish.  A  suit 
was  instituted  for  a  divorce,  and  awarded  by  a  Spanish  tribunal. 
There  was  probably  little  ceremony  or  strictness  of  legal  proceeding 
in  the  matter,  as  all  government  and  law  was  equivocal,  and  of  but 
little  force  just  at  that  time  in  the  country.  It  was  after  this  that 
Jackson  came  and  married  her,  in  the  house  of  Thomas  M.  Green. 

That  there  was  anything  disreputable  attached  to  the  lady's  name 
is  very  improbable ;  for  she  was  more  than  fifteen  months  in  the 
house  of  Green,  who  was  a  man  of  wealth,  and  remarkable  for  his 
pride  and  fastidiousness  in  selecting  his  friends  or  acquaintances. 
He  was  the  first  Territorial  representative  of  Mississippi  in  Congress 
—  was  at  the  head  of  society  socially,  and  certainly  would  never  have 
permitted  a  lady  of  equivocal  character  to  the  privileges  of  a  guest 
in  his  house,  or  to  the  association  of  his  daughters,  then  young. 
During  the  time  she  was  awaiting  this  divorce,  she  was  at  times  an 
inmate  of  the  family  of  Abner  Green,  of  Second  Creek,  where  she 
was  always  gladly  received,  and  he  and  his  family  were  even  more 
particular  as  to  the  character  and  position  of  those  they  admitted  to 
their  intimacy,  if  possible,  than  Thomas  B.  Green.  This  intimacy 
was  increased  by  the  marriage  of  two  of  the  Green  brothers  to  nieces 
of  Mrs.  Jackson. 

In  1835,  wnen  Jackson  was  President,  the  writer,  passing  from 
Louisiana  to  New  York  with  his  family,  spent  some  days  at  Wash- 
ington. His  lady  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  Abner  Green ;  he 
was  in  company  with  a  daughter  of  Henry  Green  and  her  husband  ; 
her  mother  was  niece  to  Mrs.  Jackson.  We  called  to  see  the  Presi- 
dent, and  when  my  lady  was  introduced  to  the  General,  he  was 
informed  she  was  the  daughter  of  his  old  friend,  Abner  Green,  of 
Second  Creek.  He  did  not  speak,  but  held  her  hand  for  some 
moments,  gazing  intently  into  her  face.  His  feelings  overcame  him, 
and  clasping  her  to  his  bosom,  he  said,  "I  must  kiss  you,  my  child, 
for  your  sainted  mother's  sake;"  then  holding  her  from  him,  he 
looked  again,  "  Oh  !  how  like  your  mother  you  are  —  she  was  the 
friend  of  my  poor  Rachel,  when  she  so  much  needed  a  friend  —  I 
loved  her,  and  I  love  her  memory  ;  "  and  then,  as  if  ashamed  of 
his  emotion,  he  continued  :  "You  see,  my  child,  though  I  am  Presi- 
dent through  the  kindness  or  folly  of  the  people,  I  am  but  a  weak, 
silly  old  man." 

We  spent  the  evening  with  him,  and  when  in  his  private  sitting- 


152  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

room  his  pipe  was  lighted  and  brought  to  him,  he  said  :  "  Now,  my 
child,  let  us  talk  about  Mississippi  and  the  old  people."  I  have 
never  in  all  my  life  seen  more  tenderness  of  manner,  or  more  deep 
emotion  shown,  than  this  stern  old  man  continually  evinced  when 
speaking  of  his  wife  and  her  friends. 

The  character  of  General  Jackson  is  yet  greatly  misunderstood. 
This  has  been  caused  by  the  fact  that  his  words  and  actions,  when 
in  command,  or  when  enraged,  as  a  man,  have  been  the  main  data 
upon  which  the  estimate  of  his  bearing  and  character  has  been  pre- 
dicated. He  was  irascible  and  quick  in  his  temper,  and  when 
angered  was  violent  in  words  and  manner.  It  was  at  such  moments 
that  the  stern  inflexibility  of  his  will  was  manifest ;  and  his  passion 
towered  in  proportion  to  provocation.  But  in  private  life  and  social 
intercourse  he  was  bland,  gentle,  and  conciliating.  His  manner 
was  most  polished  and  lofty  in  society,  and  in  a  lady's  parlor,  in 
urbanity  and  polish  of  manners,  he  never  had  a  superior.  This  high 
polish  was  nature's  spontaneous  gift.  He  had  never  been  taught  it  in 
courts,  or  from  association  with  those  who  had.  It  was  the  emana- 
tion of  his  great  soul,  which  stole  out  through  his  every  word  and 
movement  in  the  presence  of  ladies,  and  which  erupted  as  a  volcano 
at  insult  or  indignity  from  man. 

That  evening  at  the  White  House  is  marked  in  my  memory  with 
a  white  stone.  The  playful  simplicity  of  his  conversation  and  man- 
ner, and  the  particularity  of  his  inquiries  about  matters  and  things  so 
insignificant,  but  which  were  links  in  the  chain  of  his  memories,  I 
well  remember. 

"Is  old  papa  Jack  and  Bellile  living?"  he  asked,  after  a  pause, 
of  my  wife,  accompanied  with  a  look  of  eager  anxiety. 

These  were  two  old  Africans,  faithful  servants  of  her  father ;  and 
then  there  was  an  anecdote  of  each  of  them  — their  remarks  or  their 
conduct  upon  some  hunting  or  fishing  excursion,  in  which  he  had 
participated  forty  years  before. 

I  was  an  interested  spectator  in  the  presence  of  one  of  nature's 
wonderful  creations  —  one  who  had  made,  and  who  was  making,  his- 
tory for  his  country,  and  whose  name  was  to  descend  to  future  times 
as  one  of  her  noblest  sons  and  greatest  historical  characters.  I 
watched  every  motion  of  his  lips,  every  expression  of  his  features, 
and  every  gleam  of  his  great  gray  eyes,  and  I  could  but  wonder  at 
the  child-like  naturalness  of  everything  about  him.  Is  not  this  an 


FIFTY     YEARS.  153 

attribute  of  greatness  —  to  be  natural  ?  Yes ;  to  be  natural  in  all 
things  belongs  to  truth,  and  a  truthful  exhibition  of  nature,  without 
assumption  or  deceit,  is  greatness.  Here  was  one  who  could,  with 
natural  simplicity,  amuse  a  child  ;  and  the  same  one  could  command 
and  successfully  wield  a  great  army,  and,  with  equal  success,  direct 
the  destinies  of  a  great  nation ;  whose  genius  was  tempered  with 
simplicity  and  tenderness,  and  when  towering  most  in  its  grandeur, 
was  most  truthful  to  nature. 

General  Jackson's  early  opportunities  were  extremely  limited. 
His  education  was  so  very  defective,  that  his  orthography  was  almost 
ludicrous,  and  his  general  reading  amounted  to  almost  nothing.  At 
no  time  was  he  a  respectable  county-court  lawyer,  so  far  as  legal 
learning  was  concerned,  and  it  is  wonderful  how  the  natural  vigor 
of  his  mind  supplied  this  defect.  On  the  bench,  his  greatest  aim 
was  to  get  at  the  facts  in  every  case,  and  to  decide  all  points  upon 
the  broad  principles  of  equity ;  and  in  all  his  charges  to  the  jury, 
his  principal  aim  was  to  direct  their  attention  to  the  simple  justice  of 
the  case,  and  a  favorite  phrase  of  his  in  these  charges  was:  "Do 
right  between  the  parties,  and  you  will  serve  the  objects  of  the  law." 

He  was  an  enemy  to  all  unnecessary  forms  in  all  matters.  His 
manner  was  to  go  directly  to  the  kernel,  and  he  was  very  indifferent 
as  to  how  the  shell  was  cracked,  or  the  husk  removed.  He  never 
seemed  to  reason.  Upon  the  presentation  of  any  subject  to  his  mind, 
it  seemed,  with  electrical  velocity,  to  cut  through  to  a  conclusion  as 
if  by  intuition.  He  was  correct  in  his  conclusions  more  frequently 
than  any  man  of  his  age.  His  knowledge  of  human  nature  was  more 
consummate  than  that  of  any  of  his  compeers  who  were  remarkable 
for  greatness  of  mind.  In  this,  as  in  all  other  matters,  his  opinion 
was  formed  with  the  first  glance.  His  intimacy  with  every  sort  of 
character,  in  his  extended  intercourse  with  the  world,  seemed  so 
to  have  educated  his  faculties  and  whetted  his  perception,  that  he 
only  wanted  to  look  at  a  man  for  five  minutes  to  know  his  inmost 
nature.  Yet  he  was  sometimes  deceived,  and,  ascertaining  this, 
nothing  enraged  him  more. 

In  his  friendships  he  was  almost  fanatical.  The  humblest  indi- 
vidual, who  was  his  friend,  and  who  had  proven  it,  could  command 
him  in  any  manner,  and  to  the  full  extent  of  his  capacity  to  serve 
him. 

A  remarkable  instance  of  this  trait  was  manifested  in  his  conduct 


154  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

as  President,  toward  a  young  friend,  Mr.  Gwinn,  who  was  reared 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Hermitage,  and  whose  father  had  long 
been  a  trusted  friend  of  Jackson.  In  1832,  when  the  lands  obtained 
from  the  Choctaws  in  Mississippi  were  being  brought  into  market, 
the  office  of  register  in  the  land-office  in  that  State  was  an  important 
one.  It  was  given  to  Gwinn  by  Jackson,  who  was  then  President. 

When  the  nomination  was  sent  to  the  Senate,  opposition  was  made 
to  its  confirmation  by  George  Poindexter,  a  senator  from  Mississippi. 
It  had  always  been  the  practice  of  all  preceding  Presidents,  when 
suitable  persons  could  be  had,  to  nominate  them  from  the  State  in 
which  the  United  States  office  to  be  filled  was  located.  Poindexter 
insisted  that  this  custom,  from  long  usage,  had  become  law ;  and 
to  send  a  citizen  from  one  State  into  another,  there  to  fill  a 
national  office,  was  an  indignity  to  her  citizens,  and  a  manifestation, 
to  say  the  least  of  it,  of  distrust  and  suspicion  as  to  the  capacity  or 
honesty  of  the  people  of  the  State.  This  opposition  was  successful, 
and  Gwinn  was  rejected.  The  nomination  was  renewed,  and  again 
rejected.  Jackson  wrote  to  Gwinn,  who  was  already  by  executive 
appointment  discharging  the  duties  of  the  office,  to  continue  to  do 
so.  I  was  present  when  the  letter  was  received,  and  permitted  to 
read  it.  "  Poindexter  has  deserted  me,"  he  said,  "and  his  opposi- 
tion to  your  nomination  is  to  render,  as  far  as  he  can,  my  Adminis- 
tration unpopular  with  the  people  of  Mississippi ;  and  a  majority  of 
the  Senate  are  more  than  willing  to  aid  him  in  this.  They  are  only 
destroying  themselves,  not  me,  and  some  of  them  will  soon  find  this 
out.  Do  you  hold  on  to  the  office ;  I  will  make  no  more  nomina- 
tions ;  but  commission  you  ad  interim  as  soon  as  Congress  adjourns, 
which  will  be  in  a  few  weeks  at  farthest.  Very  soon  my  friends  will 
be  in  a  majority  in  the  Senate  —  until  then,  I  will  keep  you  in  the 
office,  for  I  am  determined  you  shall  have  it,  spite  of  Poindexter." 
The  result  was  as  he  had  promised. 

This  is  but  one  of  a  thousand  instances  which  might  be  enu- 
merated to  attest  the  same  fact.  Such  traits  are  always  appreciated 
as  they  deserve  to  be ;  they  address  themselves  to  the  commonest 
understanding,  and  are  esteemed  by  all  mankind.  It  is  a  mistake 
the  world  makes,  that  Jackson's  popularity  was  exclusively  military. 
Those  great  qualities  of  mind  and  soul  which  constituted  him  a  great 
general,  were  not  only  displayed  in  his  military  career,  but  in  all  his 
life ;  and  to  them  he  was  indebted  for  the  friends  of  his  whole  life ; 


FIFTY    YEARS.  155 

they  made  him  a  man  of  mark  before  he  was  twenty-five  years  of 
age.  His  courage,  intrepidity,  frankness,  honor,  truth,  and  sincerity 
were  all  pre-eminent  in  his  conduct,  and  carried  captive  the  admira- 
tion of  all  men.  His  devotion  to  his  wife,  to  his  friends,  to  his  duty, 
was  always  conspicuous ;  and  these  are  admired  and  honored,  even 
by  him  who  never  had  in  his  heart  a  feeling  in  common  with  one  of 
these.  All  these  traits  were  so  striking  in  Jackson's  character  as  to 
make  them  conspicuous.  They  were  more  marked  in  his  than  in 
that  of  any  other  man  of  his  day,  because  the  impulses  of  his  tem- 
perament were  more  prompt  and  potent.  They  were  natural  to  him, 
and  always  naturally  displayed.  There  was  neither  assumption  of 
feeling  nor  deceit  in  its  manifestation ;  all  he  evinced,  bubbled  up 
from  his  heart,  naturally  and  purely  as  spring -water,  and  went 
directly  to  the  heart.  These  great  and  ennobling  traits  were  not 
unfrequently  marred  by  passion,  and  acts  which  threw  a  cloud  over 
their  brilliancy ;  but  this,  too,  was  natural :  the  same  soul  which  was 
parent  to  this  violence  and  extravagance  of  passion,  was,  too,  the 
source  of  all  his  virtues,  and  all  were  equally  in  excess.  The  con- 
sequence of  this  violence  were  sometimes  terrible.  They  were 
evanescent,  and,  like  a  thunder-storm,  seemed  only  to  clear  the 
atmosphere  for  the  display  of  beautiful  weather. 

The  triumphs  of  mind,  unaided  by  education,  sometimes  are  aston- 
ishing,— in  the  case  of  General  Jackson,  perhaps,  not  more  so  than 
in  many  others.  The  great  Warwick  of  England,  the  putter-up  and 
the  puller-down  of  kings,  did  not  know  his  letters  ;  Marshal  Soult, 
the  greatest  of  Napoleon's  marshals,  could  not  write  a  correct  sen- 
tence in  French ;  and  Stevenson,  the  greatest  engineer  the  world 
ever  saw  —  the  inventor  of  the  locomotive  engine — did  not  know  his 
letters  at  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  was  always  illiterate.  It  is  a 
question  whether  such  minds  would  have  been  greatly  aided  by  edu- 
cation, or  whether  they  might  not  have  been  greatly  injured  by  it  — 
nature  seeming  to  have  formed  all  minds  with  particular  proclivities. 
These  are  more  marked  in  the  stronger  intellects.  They  direct  to 
the  pursuit  in  life  for  which  nature  has  designed  the  individual: 
should  this  idiosyncrasy  receive  the  proper  education  from  infancy, 
doubtless  it  would  be  aided  to  the  more  rapid  and  more  certain 
accomplishment  of  the  designs  of  nature.  To  discover  this  in  the 
child,  requires  that  it  should  be  strongly  developed,  and  a  close  and 
intelligent  observation  on  the  part  of  the  parent  or  guardian  who 


!^6  THE     MEM  OKIES     OF 

may  have  the  direction  of  the  child's  education.  But  this,  in  the 
system  of  education  almost  universally  pursued,  is  never  thought  of; 
and  the  avocation  of  the  future  man  is  chosen  for  him,  without  any 
regard  to  his  aptitudes  for  it,  and  often  in  disregard  of  those  mani- 
fested for  another.  Consequently,  nature  is  thwarted  by  ignorance, 
and  the  individual  drags  on  unsuccessfully  in  a  hated  pursuit  through 
life.  Left  alone,  these  proclivities  become  a  passion,  and  where ' 
strongly  marked,  and  aided  by  strength  of  will,  they  work  out  in 
wonderful  perfection  the  designs  of  nature.  Julius  Caesar,  Hannibal, 
Attila,  Yengis  Khan,  Prince  Eugene,  Marlborough,  Napoleon,  and 
Wellington  were  all  generals  by  nature — and  so  were  Andrew  Jack- 
son and  "Stonewall"  Jackson.  The  peculiarities  of  talent  which 
make  a  great  general  make  a  great  statesman  ;  and  all  of  those  who, 
after  distinguishing  themselves  as  great  generals,  were  called  to  the 
administration  of  the  civil  affairs  of  their  respective  Governments, 
have  equally  distinguished  themselves  as  civilians. 

The  proposing  of  General  Jackson  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency was  received,  by  most  of  those  who  were  deemed  statesmen, 
as  a  burlesque ;  and  many  of  those  most  active  in  his  support  only 
desired  his  election  to  further  their  own  views,  and  not  for  the 
country's  benefit.  It  was  supposed  he  was  so  entirely  unacquainted 
with  state-craft,  that  he  would  be  a  pliant  tool  —  an  automaton,  to 
dance  to  their  wire-pulling.  How  little  they  understood  him,  and 
how  well  he  understood  them  !  At  once  he  let  them  know  he 
was  President,  and  was  determined  to  take  the  responsibility  of 
administering  the  Government  in  the  true  spirit  of  its  institutions. 
The  alarm,  which  pervaded  all  political  circles  so  soon  as  this  was 
understood,  is  remembered  well.  It  was  a  bomb  exploded  under 
the  mess-table,  scattering  the  mess  and  breaking  to  fragments  all 
their  cunningly  devised  machinations  for  rule  and  preferment  —  an 
open  declaration  of  war  against  all  cliques  and  all  dictation.  His 
inaugural  was  startling,  and  his  first  message  explicit.  His  policy 
was  avowed,  and  though  it  gathered  about  him  a  storm,  he  nobly 
breasted  it,  and  rode  it  out  triumphantly.  His  administration  closed 
in  a  blaze  of  glory.  He  retired  the  most  popular  and  most  powerful 
man  the  nation  had  ever  seen. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  157 

CHAPTER  XII. 

GOSSIP. 

UNREQUITED  LOVE — POPPING  THE  QUESTION— PRACTICAL  JOKING  — SATAN 
LET  LOOSE — RHEA.BUT  NOT  RHEA — TEACHINGS  OF  NATURE  — H.S.  SMITH. 

THIS  must  be  a  gossiping  chapter,  of  many  persons  and  many 
things,  running  through  many  years. 

I  love  to  dwell  upon  the  years  of  youth.  They  are  the  sweetest 
in  life ;  and  these  memories  constitute  most  of  the  happiness  of 
declining  life.  Incidents  in  our  pilgrimage  awaken  the.  almost  for- 
gotten, and  then  how  many,  many  memories  flit  through  the  mind, 
and  what  a  melancholy  pleasure  fills  the  soul  1  We  think,  and  think 
on,  calling  this  and  that  memory  up  from  the  grave  of  forgetfulness, 
until  all  the  past  seems  present,  and  we  live  over  the  bliss  of  boyhood 
with  a  mimic  ecstasy  of  young  life  and  its  gladdening  joys. 

Like  every  young  man,  I  suppose,  I  loved  a  fair  girl  with  beauti- 
ful blue  eyes,  and  lips  so  pouting  and  plump,  so  ruddy  and  liquid, 
that  the  words  seemed  sweetened  as  they  melted  away  from  them ; 
but  my  love  was  unpropitious,  and  another  was  preferred  to  me.  I 
have  ever  been  curious  to  know  why.  Vanity  always  in  my  own 
soul  made  me  greatly  the  superior  of  the  favored  one,  in  all  particu- 
lars. But  she  did  not  think  so,  and  chose  as  she  liked.  I  saw  her 
but  once  a  bride.  I  went  away,  and  found,  as  others  do,  another 
and  dearer  love.  Sitting  on  my  horse  by  her  side,  as  she  held  in 
her  beautiful  palfrey,  upon  the  summit  of  a  cliff,  which  rises  grandly 
above,  and  brows  the  drab  waters  of  the  great  Mississippi,  she 
pointed  to  the  river,  which  resembled  a  great,  white  serpent,  wind- 
ing among  green  fields  and  noble  forests,  for  twenty  miles  below. 
Her  eyes  were  gray,  and  large,  and  lovely  ;  her  form  was  towering, 
and  her  mien  commanding.  She  grew  with  the  scene.  She  was 
born  only  a  mile  away,  in  the  midst  of  a  wild  forest  of  walnut 
and  magnolia,  amid  towering  hills,  and  cherished  them  and  this 
mighty  river  in  childhood,  until  she  partook  of  their  grandeur  and 
greatness.  I  thought  she  was  like  the  love  of  my  youth,  and  I  loved 
her,  and  told  her  of  it.  The  sun  was  waning  —  going  down  to  rest, 
14 


158  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

and,  like  a  mighty  monarch,  was  folding  himself  away  to  sleep  in  gor- 
geous robes  of  crimson  and  gold.  In  his  shaded  light,  outstretching 
for  fifty  miles  beyond  the  river,  lay,  in  sombre  silence,  the  mighty 
swamp,  with  its  wonderful  trees  of  cypress,  clothed  in  moss  of  gray, 
long,  and  festooning  from  their  summits  to  the  earth  below,  and 
waving,  like  banners,  in  the  passing  wind.  The  towering  magnolia, 
in  all  the  pride  of  foliage  and  flower,  shaded  us.  The  river,  in 
silent  and  dignified  majesty,  moved  onward  far  below,  and  evening 
breezes  bathed,  with  their  delicious  touch,  our  glowing  cheeks. 
The  scene  was  grand,  and  my  feelings  were  intense.  In  the  midst  of 
all  this  beauty  and  grandeur,  she  was  the  cynosure  of  eye  and  heart. 
I  loved  her ;  and  yet,  my  conscience  rebuked  me  for  forgetting  my 
first  love,  and  I  asked  myself  if,  in  all  this  wild  delirium  of  soul, 
there  was  not  some  little  ingredient  of  revenge.  No,  it  was  for  her- 
self—  all  for  herself;  and,  chokingly,  I  told  her  of  it,  when  she 
drooped  her  head,  and,  in  silence,  gave  me  her  hand.  We  went 
away  in  silence.  There  was  too  much  of  feeling  to  admit  of  speech. 
Delicious  memory !  Of  all  our  ten  children,  four  only  remain. 
The  willow's  tears  bedew  her  grave,  and  her  sons  fill  the  soldier's 
grave,  and,  wrapped  in  the  gray,  sleep  well. 

Yesterday  I  met  her  who  first  kindled  in  my  bosom  affection  for 
woman  —  a  widowed  woman,  withered  and  old.  She  smiled:  the 
lingering  trace  of  what  it  was,  was  all  that  was  left.  The  little, 
plump  hand  was  lean  and  bony,  and  wrinkles  usurped  the  ala- 
baster brow.  Fifty  years  had  made  its  mark.  But  memory  was,  by 
time,  untouched.  We  parted.  I  closed  my  eyes,  and  there  she  was, 
in  her  girlhood's  robes  and  her  girlhood's  beauty.  The  lip,  the 
cheek,  the  glorious  eye,  were  all  in  memory  garnered  still ;  and  I 
loved  that  memory,  but  not  the  woman  now.  Another  was  in  the 
niche  she  first  cut  in  my  heart,  whose  cheek  and  eye  and  pouting 
lip  were  young  and  lovely.  Still  these  memories  awoke  out  of  this 
meeting,  and,  for  hours,  I  forgot  that  I  was  wrinkled,  old,  and  gray. 

I  wonder  how  many's  history  I  am  writing  now?  The  history  of 
the  heart,  at  last,  is  all  the  endearing  history  of  waning  life.  Recur 
as  we  may  to  every  success,  to  every  sorrow,  and  they  whisper  a 
chapter  of  the  heart.  We  struggle  to  make  happy  those  we  love. 
The  gratifications  of  wealth,  ambition,  and  feeling,  all  refer  to  the 
heart.  There  could  be  no  pleasure  from  these  memories  if  those  we 
loved  had  not  participated  in  them.  We  build  a  home  for  her  we 


FIFTY     YEARS.  159 

love,  and  those  who  sprout  around  us.  We  win  wealth  and  a  name 
for  these,  and  but  for  them,  all  that  is  innate  would  be  only  alloy. 
They  must  reflect  the  bliss  it  brings,  or  it  has  no  sweetness.  Can 
there  be  a  soul  so  sordid  as  to  riot  in  pleasure  and  triumphs  all  alone 
—  to  shun  companionship,  and  hate  participation  in  the  joys  that 
come  of  successful  life  ? 

I  am  in  the  midst  of  the  scenes  of  my  childhood,  with  here  and 
there  one  friend  left,  who  share/i  with  me  the  school-hours,  Satur- 
day rambles,  and  sports  of  early  boyhood.  With  these  the  memo- 
ries come  fresh  and  vigorous  of  the  then  occurring  incidents  —  the 
fishings,  the  Saturday-night  raccoon  hunts,  the  forays  upon  orchards 
and  melon-patches,  and  the  rides  to  and  from  the  old,  country 
church  on  the  Sabbath ;  the  practical  jokes  of  which  I  was  so  fond, 
and  from  which  even  my  own  father  was  not  exempt.  Kind  reader, 
indulge  the  garrulity  of  age,  and  allow  me  to  recount  one  of  these. 
There  are  a  few  who  will  remember  it ;  for  they  have  laughed  at  it 
for  fifty  years.  I  never  knew  my  father  to  tell  a  fib  but  upon  one 
occasion  in  my  life.  Under  the  circumstances,  I  am  sure  the  kindly 
nature  will,  at  least,  allow  it  to  be  a  white  one. 

I  am  near  the  old  mill  my  father  built,  and,  if  I  remember  all 
connected  with  my  boyhood  there,  I  trust  there  will  be  few  or  none 
to  sneer  or  blame.  The  flouring-mill,  or  mill  for  grinding  grain, 
and  the  saw-mill  were  united  under  the  same  roof;  and  it  was  the 
business  of  father  to  give  his  attention,  as  overseer,  not  only  to  the 
mills,  but  to  his  planting  interest.  He  employed  a  North  Carolina 
Scotchman  —  that  is,  a  man  descended  of  Scotch  parents,  but  born 
in  North  Carolina  —  to  superintend  his  saw-mill,  who  had  all  the 
industry,  saving  propensities,  and  superstitions  of  his  ancestry.  He 
was  a  firm  believer  in  spells,  second-sights,  and  ghosts.  Taking 
advantage  of  these  superstitions,  my  brother  and  myself  made  him 
the  sufferer  in  many  a  practical  joke.  Upon  one  occasion,  we  put 
into  circulation,  in  the  neighborhood,  a  story  full  of  wonder.  A 
remarkable  spectre  had  been  seen  near  the  mill  on  dark  nights,  and 
especially  on  those  misty  nights  of  murky  gloom,  common  in  early 
spring  to  this  latitude.  Its  form  was  unique  and  exaggerated,  with 
flaming  eyes,  and  mouth  of  huge  proportions,  with  long,  pointed 
teeth,  white  and  sharp.  For  weeks,  this  gorgon  of  my  imagination 
constituted  the  theme  of  neighborhood  gossip.  Several  negroes  had 
seen  it,  and  fled  its  fierce  pursuit,  barely  escaping  its  voracious 


l6o  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

mouth  and  attenuated  claws,  through  the  fleetness  of  fear.  The  old 
hardshell  Baptist  preacher,  of  the  vicinage,  had  proclaimed  him 
from  the  pulpit  as  Satan  unchained,  and  commencing  his  thousand 
years  of  wandering  up  and  down  the  earth. 

I  had  procured  from  a  vine  in  the  plum-orchard  a  gourd  of  huge 
dimensions,  such  as  in  that  day  were  used  by  frugal  housewives 
for  the  keeping  of  lard  for  family  use.  It  would  hold  in  its  capa- 
cious cavity  at  least  half  a  bushel.  %This  was  cut  one-third  of  its  cir- 
cumference for  a  mouth,  and  this  was  garnished  with  teeth  from 
the  quills  of  a  venerable  gander,  an  especial  pet  of  my  mother. 
The  eyes  were  in  proportion,  and  were  covered  with  patches  of  red 
flannel,  purloined  from  my  mother's  scrap-basket.  A  circle,  an 
inch  in  diameter,  made  of  charcoal,  formed  an  iris  to  a  pupil,  cut 
round  and  large,  through  the  flannel.  A  candle  was  lighted,  and 
introduced  through  a  hole  at  the  bottom  of  the  gourd,  and  all 
mounted  upon  a  pole  some  ten  feet  long.  In  the  dark  it  was  hideous, 
and,  on  one  or  two  occasions,  had  served  secretly  to  frighten  some 
negroes,  to  give  it  reputation.  It  was  designed  for  Rhea,  the  Caro- 
linian. On  Saturday  night  it  was  his  uniform  practice  to  come  up  to 
the  house,  cleanly  clad,  to  spend  the  evening.  There  was  a  canal 
which  conveyed  the  water  from  the  head  above  to  the  mill.  This 
ran  parallel  with  the  stream,  and  was  crossed,  on  the  public  road,  by 
a  bridge,  one  portion  of  which  was  shaded  by  a  large  crab-apple 
bush.  Though  fifty  years  ago,  it  still  remains  to  mark  the  spot. 
Beyond  the  creek  (which  was  bridged,  for  foot-passengers,  with  the 
trunk  of  a  large  tree,)  was  a  newly  cleared  field,  in  which  the  negroes 
were  employed  burning  brush  on  the  Saturday  night  chosen  for 
my  sport.  Here,  under  this  crab-tree,  I  awaited  the  coming  of 
Rhea.  It  was  misty,  and  densely  dark.  Presently  the  footsteps  of 
my  victim  were  heard  approaching ;  he  was  on  the  bridge.  He 
came  on  cautiously,  to  be  secure  of  a  safe  footing  in  the  dark.  Sud- 
denly I  turned  the  grinning  monster  full  in  his  face.  A  scream  and 
a  leap  followed.  Down  the  muddy  creek-bank  rushed  my  victim, 
plunged  through  the  tumbling  waters  waist-deep,  and,  as  soon  as  the 
opposite  shore  was  reached,  a  vociferous  call  was  made  for  Tom,  the 
negro  foreman.  Horror  of  horrors  !  it  was  my  father's  voice.  In 
an  instant  my  candle  was  out,  and  I  was  running. 

I  passed  unconcernedly  through  the  house  and  took  a  seat  in  the 
back  passage,  and  awaited  events.  It  was  not  long  before  the  sloppy 


FIFTY     YEARS.  l6l 

noise  of  shoes  full  of  water,  heard  in  walking,  came  through  the 
yard,  and  into  the  house.  It  was  my  dear  old  frightened  father,  all 
reeking  from  his  plunge  into  the  creek.  "Why,  husband,"  asked 
mother,  "  how  did  you  get  so  wet  ?  "  He  slung  the  damp  from  his 
hat  as  he  cleared  his  throat,  and  said:  "I  slipped  off  that  cursed 
log,  in  crossing  the  creek."  Reflection  had  told  him  he  had  been 
foolishly  frightened,  and  he  was  ashamed  to  acknowledge  it.  My 
conscience  smote  me,  but  I  laughed,  and  trembled  —  for  had  he 
made  discovery  of  the  trick,  it  would  have  been  my  time  to  suffer. 

Memory  brings  back  the  features,  the  kind  and  gentle  look  of  that 
dear  and  indulgent  parent,  and  the  unbidden  tear  comes.  The 
last  time  I  ever  saw  him  was  at  the  terminus  of  the  railroad,  on 
the  banks  of  Lake  Pontchartrain ;  he  placed  his  aged  arms  about  my 
shoulders,  and,  pressing  me  to  his  bosom,  bid  me  "  Farewell,"  as, 
trembling  with  emotion,  he  continued:  "we  are  parting  forever,  my 
child."  He  had  met  misfortunes  in  his  latter  days,  and  was  poor, 
but  I  had  filled  his  purse  with  the  means  which  smoothed  his  way  the 
remnant  of  his  life.  The  prediction  was  but  too  true ;  in  less  than 
one  year  after  that  parting,  he  slept  in  death. 

And  now,  when  war  and  death  have  swept  from  me  children,  for- 
tune, all,  and  I  am  old  and  needy,  it  is  a  consolation  known  only  to 
my  own  bosom  that  I  plucked  the  thorn  from  my  parent's  path. 

These  are  childish  memories,  and  may  be  too  puerile  for  record; 
but  I  am  sure  most  of  my  readers  will  find  in  them  something  of  their 
own  childhood's  memories.  It  is  my  memories  of  men  and  things, 
I  am  writing,  and  I  would  be  faithfal  to  them. 

Boyhood's  memories  crowd  the  after-life  with  half  the  joys  its 
destiny  demands ;  associations  which  revive  them  come  as  pleasant 
showers  to  the  parched  herbage  when  autumn's  sun  withers  its  flush, 
and  yellows  the  green  of  spring-time.  Oh  !  the  zest  of  early  sports  — 
of  boyhood's  mischief;  so  free  from  selfishness,  so  untouched  with* 
meanness,  so  full  of  joyous  excitement,  so  loved  for  itself.  Every 
man  has  been  a  boy ;  every  woman  has  been  a  girl ;  and  all  alike  have 
felt  and  enjoyed  the  sweets  of  young  life ;  and  when  years  and  cares 
and  tears  have  stolen  away  the  green  from  the  soul,  and  the  blos- 
soms of  the  grave  whiten  about  the  brow,  and  the  unbidden  sigh 
breaks  away  from  the  grief  of  the  heart,  and  memory  startles  with 
what  was  when  we  were  young,  the  contrast  would  be  full  of  misery 
14*  L 


j62  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

did  not  a  lingering  of  the  joys  which  filled  our  frolics  and  our  follies 
come  to  dull  the  edge  of  sorrow. 

When  the  cravings  of  the  mind,  taught  by  time  to  be  unrealizable, 
are  driven  from  hope ;  when  the  purity  of  youthful  feelings  are  soiled 
by  contact  with  the  world's  baseness ;  when  the  world's  passing 
interests  harden  the  sensibilities,  and  we  have  almost  forgotten  that 
we  were  ever  young,  or  had  a  youthful  joy,  some  little  story,  some  little 
incident  will  startle  the  memory,  and  touch  and  tone  the  heart  to  the 
music  of  its  spring,  and  the  desert  waste  which  time  has  made  green 
again  with  memories  which  grew  from  bliss  budding  in  our  youth ; 
and,  though  they  never  come  to  fruitage,  are  cherished  with  a  joy. 

Oh !  the  heart,  the  heart — what  are  all  its  joys  of  youth,  and  all  its 
griefs  of  age  ?  Is  it  that  youth  has  no  apprehensions,  and  we  enjoy 
its  anticipations  and  its  present  without  alloy  ?  or  does  its  all  belong 
to  love  and  joy  when  life  and  the  world  is  new?  Are  these  too 
bright,  too  pure  for  time  ?  and  the  griefs  of  later  life  the  Dead  Sea 
apples  which  grow  from  them.  And  is  it  so  with  all?  Is  there  one, 
whose  years  have  brought  increase  of  happiness,  and  who  has  lived 
on  without  a  sorrow  ? 

In  God's  economy  must  all  experience  misery.to  dull  the  love  of 
life,  and  kindle  hope  for  a  blissful  future,  to  steal  from  the  heart  its 
cherished  here,  to  yield  it  all  in  its  hereafter.  Ah  !  we  know  what  a 
world  this  is,  but  what  a  world  is  to  come  we  know  not.  Is  it  not 
as  reasonable  to  believe  we  lived  before  our  birth  into  this,  as  to  hope 
we  shall  live  after  death  in  another  world  ?  Is  this  hope  the  instinct 
of  the  coming,  or  does  it  grow  from  the  baser  instinct  of  love  for 
the  miserable  life  we  have?  It  is  easy  to  ask,  but  who  shall  answer? 
Is  it  the  mind  which  remembers,  and  is  the  mind  the  soul  ?  or  is  the 
soul  independent  of  the  mind,  surviving  the  mind's  extinction?  and 
do  the  memories  of  time  die  with  time  ?  or, 

Do  these  pursue  beyond  the  grave? 
Must  the  surviving  spirit  have 
Its  memories  of  time  and  grief? 
Then,  surely,  death  is  poor  relief. 
Shall  it  forget  the  all  of  time, 
When  time  's  with  all  her  uses  eon<*, 
And  be  a  babe  in  that  new  clime? 
Then  death  is  but  oblivion. 

Youth's  happiness  is  half  of  hope;  all  that  of  age  is  memory — 


FIFTY     YEARS.  163 

and  yet  these  memories  more  frequently  sadden  than  gladden  the 
heart.  Then  what  is  life  to  age?  Garrulity,  and  to  be  in  the  way. 
Our  household  gods  grow  weary  of  our  worship,  and  the  empty  stool 
we  have  filled  in  gray  and  trembling  age  in  the  temple  we  have  built, 
when  we  are  gone  is  kicked  away,  and  we  are  forgotten  ;  our  very 
children  regret  (though  they  sometimes  assume  a  painful  apprehen- 
sion) we  do  not  make  haste  to  die  —  if  we  have  that  they  crave,  and 
inherit  when  we  shall  have  passed  to  eternity.  But  if  the  gift  of 
raiment  and  food  is  imposed  by  poverty  on  those  who  gave  them 
birth,  they  complain,  and  not  unfrequently  turn  from  their  door  the 
aged,  palsied  parent,  to  die,  or  live  on  strangers'  charity.  Sad  pic- 
ture, but  very  true,  very  true ;  poor  human  nature !  And  man, 
so  capable  in  his  nature  of  this  ungodliness,  boasts  himself  made 
after  God's  own  image.  Vanity  of  vanities  ! 

Nature's  harmony,  nature's  loveliness,  nature's  expansive  great- 
ness and  grandeur  teaches  of  God,  and  godliness.  The  inanimate 
and  unthinking  are  consistently  harmonious  and  beautiful ;  man  only 
mars  the  harmony,  and  makes  a  hell  for  man  in  time.  Then,  is  time 
his  all  ?  or,  shall  this  accursed  rabidness  be  purged  away  with  death, 
and  he  become  a  tone  in  accord  with  inanimate  things?  or,  shall 
this  but  purify  as  fire  the  yielding  metal,  the  inner  man,  which  hope 
or  instinct  whispers  lives,  and  animates  its  tenement  of  time,  to 
view,  to  know,  and  to  enjoy  creation  through  eternity  ?  Wild 
thoughts  are  kindling  in  my  brain,  wild  feelings  stir  my  heart. 

This  is  a  beautiful  Sabbath  morning,  the  blazing  sun  wades  through 
the  blue  ether,  and  space  seems  redolent  of  purity  and  beauty.  The 
breeze  is  as  bland  as  the  breath  of  a  babe,  coming  through  my  case- 
ment with  the  light,  and  bathing  my  parched  cheek ;  and  the  sere 
summer  is  warming  away  the  gentle,  genial  spring.  This  is  her  last 
day ;  and  to  how  many  countless  thousands  is  it  the  last  day  of  life  ? 
Oh !  could  I  die  as  gently,  as  beautifully  as  dies  this  budding  season 
of  the  year,  and  could  I  know  my  budding  hopes,  like  these  buds  of 
spring,  would,  in  their  summer,  grow  to  fruit  as  these  are  growing, 
how  welcome  eternity !  But  I,  as  well,  have  my  law,  and  must  wait 
its  fulfilment.  It  is  the  Sabbath  wisely  ordained  to  rest,  and  in  its 
quiet  and  beauty  obliviating  care  and  sorrow.  Would  it  were  to  the 
restless  mind  as  to  the  weary  limbs,  and  as  to  these,  to  this  give  ease 
and  repose ! 

I  have  been  dreaming,  and  my  boyhood  days  revive  with  busy 


1 64  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

memories.  My  gentle  mother,  ever  tender  and  kind,  seems  busy 
before  me ;  the  old  home,  the  old  servants,  as  they  were ;  the  old 
school-house  in  the  woods  by  the  branch,  and  many  a  merry  face 
laughing  and  beaming  around  ;  and  my  own  old  classmate,  my  sol- 
itary classmate,  so  loved,  ah !  so  loved  even  unto  this  day.  It  was 
only  yesterday  I  saw  him,  old  and  care-worn,  yet  in  all  the  nobility 
of  his  soul,  bearing  with  stern  philosophy  the  miseries  of  misfortune 
inflicted  by  the  red  hand  of  merciless  war,  yielding  with  dignity  and 
graceful  resignation  to  the  necessities  imposed  by  unscrupulous  power, 
conscious  of  no  wrong,  and  sustained  by  that  self-respect  the  result 
of  constant  and  undeviating  rectitude  which  has  marked  his  long 
life.  From  childhood  our  hearts  have  been  intertwined,  and  death 
only  has  the  power  to  tear  them  apart.  We  sat  together  long  hours, 
and  talked  of  the  past  —  alternately,  as  their  memories  floated  up, 
asking  each  other,  "Where  is  this  one?  and  this?"  and  to  each 
inquiry  the  sad  monosyllable,  "  Dead  !  "  was  the  reply,  of  all  who 
were  with  us  at  school  when  we  were  boys.  We  alone  are  left ! 

In  my  strife  with  the  world,  I  can  never  forget 
The  scenes  of  my  childhood,  and  those  who  were  there 
When  I  was  a  child.     I  remember  them  yet ; 
Their  features,  their  persons,  to  memory  so  dear, 
Are  present  forever,  and  cling  round  my  heart  — 
On  the  plains  of  the  West,  in  the  forest's  deep  wild, 
On  the  blue,  briny  sea,  in  commerce's  mart, 
'Mid  the  throngs  of  gay  cities  with  palaces  piled. 

The  bottle  of  milk,  and  the  basket  of  food, 

Prepared  by  my  mother,  at  dawning  of  day, 

For  my  dinner  at  school;  and  path  through  the  wood: 

How  well  I  remember  that  wood  and  that  way, 

The  brook  which  ran  through  it,  the  bridge  o'er  the  brook, 

The  dewberry-briers  which  grew  by  its  side, 

My  slate,  and  my  satchel,  and  blue  spelling-book, 

And  little  white  pony  father  gave  me  to  ride! 

The  spring  by  the  hill,  where  our  bottles  were  placed 

To  bathe  in  its  waters,  so  clear  and  so  cool, 

Till  dinner-time  came!     Oh!  then  how  we  raced 

To  get  them,  and  dine  in  the  shade  by  the  pool! 

The  spring,  and  the  pool,  and  the  shade  are  still  there, 

But  the  dear  old  school-house  has  rotted  and  gone, 

And  all  who  were  happy  about  it  are  —  where? 

Go  —  go  to  the  church-yard,  and  ask  the  grave-stone! 


FIFTY     YEARS.  1 6$ 

A  few  there  are  left,  old,  tottering,  and  gray, 
Apart  and  forgotten,  as  those  who  are  dead; 
Yet  sometimes  they  meet  on  life's  thorny  way, 
And  talk,  and  live  over  the  days  that  have  fled. 
Oh !  how  I  remember  those  faces  so  bright, 
Which  beamed  in  their  boyhood  with  honesty's  ray  ! 
And  oft,  when  alone,  in  the  stillness  of  night, 
We  're  all  at  the  school-house  again,  and  at  play ! 

Of  all  those  who  were  there  with  me,  the  best  loved  was  H.  S. 
Smith,  no>y  of  Mobile ;  and  he,  with  perhaps  one  or  two  more,  are 
all  that  are  now  living.  Our  ages  are  the  same,  within  a  week  or 
two,  I  am  sure ;  and  we  are  of  the  same  height  and  same  weight ;  and 
our  attachment  was  mutual :  it  has  never  been  marred  through  three- 
score years  and  ten,  and  to-day  we  are,  as  brothers  should  be,  with- 
out a  secret  hidden  in  the  heart,  the  one  from  the  other.  A$  a 
friend,  as  a  husband,  as  a  father,  as  a  man,  I  know  none  to  rival 
H.  S.  Smith.  He  never  aspired  to  political  distinction :  content  to 
pursue,  through  life,  the  honorable  and  responsible  business  of  a 
merchant,  he  has  distinguished  himself  for  energy,  capacity,  prob- 
ity, and  success ;  and  in  his  advanced  years  enjoys  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  all  honest  men.  Our  years  have  been,  since  1826, 
spent  apart  —  communication,  however,  has  never  ceased  between 
us,  and  the  early  friendship,  so  remarked  by  all  who  knew  us,  con- 
tinues, and  will  until  one  is  alone  in  life. 

I  know  this  narrative  will  not  be  interesting  to  those  unacquainted 
with  Smith  and  myself.  To  such  I  say,  close  the  book,  nor  read 
on,  but  turn  to  that  which  may  interest  more,  because  more  known. 
I  could  not  pen  the  memories  of  fifty  years,  and  forbear  those  the 
sweetest  now,  because  their  fruit  to  me  has  ever  been  the  sweetest ; 
and  the  noble  virtues  of  the  private  gentleman  cannot  be  the  less 
appreciated  because  they  have  only  adorned  a  circle  where  they 
shone  in  common  with  those  around  him.  These  are  the  men  who 
preserve  the  public  morals,  and  purify  the  atmosphere  polluted  by 
the  corruptions  of  men  prominent  before  the  world  for  distinguished 
abilities,  and  equally  distinguished  immoralities.  From  these  radiate 
that  open-hearted  honesty  which  permeates  society,  and  teaches  by 
example,  and  which  so  often  rebukes  the  laxity  of  those  who,  from 
position,  should  be  an  example  and  an  ornament.  The  purling 
stream  murmuring  its  lowly  song  beneath  the  shading  forest  and 


1 66  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

modest  shrubs  may  attract  less  attention  than  the  turbid,  roaring 
river,  but  is  always  purer,  sweeter,  more  health-giving  and  lovely. 

The  romance  of  youth  is  the  sugar  of  life,  and  its  sweets  to  mem- 
ory, as  life  recedes,  augment  as  "distance  lends  enchantment  to  the 
view."  We  make  no  account  of  the  evanescent  troubles  which 
come  to  us  then  but  for  a  moment,  and  are  immediately  chased 
away  with  the  thickening  delights  that  gild  young  life  and  embalm 
it  for  the  memories  of  age.  The  gravity  of  years  delights  to  recount 
these ;  and  few  are  indisposed  to  listen,  for  it  is  a  sort  of  heart-his- 
tory of  every  one,  and  in  hearing  or  reading,  memory  Awakes,  and 
youth  and  its  joys  are  back  again,  even  to  tottering,  palsied  age. 
Then,  gentle  reader,  do  not  sneer  at  me :  these  are  all  I  have  left ; 
my  household  gods  are  torn  away,  my  boys  sleep  in  bloody  graves, 
my  home  is  desolate,  I  am  alone,  with  only  one  to  comfort  me  — 
she  who  shares  the  smiles  and  tears  which  lighten  and  soothe  the 
weary  days  of  ebbing  life. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

INFLUENCE    OF   CHILDHOOD. 

FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  — FORTUNE— MIRABEAU  B.  LAMAR  — DR.  ALONZO  CHURCH 

— JULIUS  OESAR  —  L.  Q.  C.  LAMAR  —  TEXAN  INDEPENDENCE  — COLQUITT 

LUMPKIN  —  WHAT  A  GREAT  MAN  CAN  Do  IN  ONE  DAY  —  CHARLES  J. 

JENKINS. 

THE  memories  of  childhood  cling,  perhaps,  more  tenaciously 
than  those  of  any  after  period  of  life.  The  attachments  and 
antipathies  then  formed  are  more  enduring.  Our  school-companions 
at  our  first  school  — the  children  of  our  immediate  neighborhood, 
who  first  rolled  with  us  upon  the  grass,  and  dabbled  with  us  in  the 
bianch  —  we  never  forget.  Time,  absence,  protracted  separation, 
all  fail  to  obliterate  the  features,  the  dispositions,  or  anything  about 
them,  which  so  unconsciously  fastens  upon  the  mind,  and  grows  into 
the  tender  soul  of  childhood.  These  memories  retain  and  bring 


FIFTYYEARS.  1 67 

back  with  them  the  feelings,  the  likes  and  dislikes,  which  grew  with 
them.  These  feelings  are  the  basis  of  lifetime  loves,  and  eternal 
antipathies. 

The  boy  is  father  to  the  man,  as  the  girl  is  mother  to  the 
woman.  Who  that  has  lived  seventy  years  will  not  attest  this  from 
his  own  life's  experience?  The  generous,  truthful  boy  will  be 
the  noble,  honorable  man  ;  the  modest,  timid,  truthful  girl  will  be 
the  gentle,  kind,  and  upright  woman.  Nature  plants  the  germ,  and 
education  but  cultivates  the  tree.  It  never  changes  the  fruit.  The 
boy  who,  when  dinner-time  comes,  happens  to  have  a  pie,  when 
his  fellows  have  none,  and  will  open  his  basket  before  his  com- 
panions, and  divide  with  them,  will  carry  the  same  trait  to  the  grave. 
His  hand  will  open  to  assist  the  needy,  and  he  will  seek  no  reward 
beyond  the  consciousness  of  having  done  right.  And  he  who,  with 
the  same  school-boy's  treasure,  will  steal  away,  and  devour  it  behind 
the  school-house,  and  alone,  will,  through  life,  be  equally  mean  in 
all  his  transactions.  From  motives  of  interest,  he  may  assume  a 
generosity  of  conduct,  but  the  innate  selfishness  of  his  heart  will,  in 
the  manner  of  his  dispensing  favors,  betray  itself.  Education,  and 
the  influences  of  polished  society,  may  refine  the  manners,  but  they 
never  soften  the  heart  to  generous  emotions,  where  nature  has  refused 
to  sow  its  seed.  But  where  her  hand  has  been  liberal  in  this  divine 
dispensation,  no  misfortune,  no  want  of  education  or  association,  will 
prevent  their  germination  and  fructification.  Such  hearts  divide 
their  joys  and  their  sorrows,  with  the  fortunate  and  afflicted,  with 
the  same  emotional  sincerity  with  which  they  lift  their  prayers  to 
Heaven. 

The  school-room  is  an  epitome  of  the  world.  There  the  same 
passions  influence  the  conduct  of  the  child,  which  will  prompt  it  in 
riper  years,  and  the  natural  buddings  of  the  heart  spring  forth,  and 
grow  on  to  maturity  with  the  mind  and  the  person.  College  life  is  but 
another  phase  of  this  great  truth,  when  these  natural  proclivities  are 
more  manifest,  because  more  matured.  It  is  not  the  greatest  mind 
which  marks  the  greatest  soul,  and  it  is  not  the  most  successful  who 
are  the  noblest  and  best.  The  shrewd,  the  mean,  and  the  selfish 
grow  rich,  and  are  prosperous,  and  are  courted  and  preferred, 
because  there  are  more  who  are  mean  and  venal  in  the  world  than 
there  are  who  are  generous  and  good.  But  it  is  the  generous  and 
good  who  are  the  great  benefactors  of  mankind ;  and  yet,  if  there 


1 68  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

was  no  selfishness  in  human  nature,  there  would  be  no  means  of 
doing  good.  Wealth  is  the  result  of  labor  and  economy.  These 
are  not  incompatible  with  generosity  and  ennobling  manliness. 
The  proper  discrimination  in  the  application  of  duties  and  donations 
toward  the  promotion  of  useful  institutions,  and  the  same  discrimina- 
tion in  the  dispensation  of  private  charities,  characterize  the  wise  and 
good  of  the  world.  These  attributes  of  mind  and  heart  are  apparent 
in  the  child ;  and  in  every  heart,  whatever  its  character,  there  is  a 
natural  respect  and  love  for  these,  and  all  who  possess  them.  Such 
grow  with  their  growth  in  the  world's  estimation,  and  are  prominent, 
however  secluded  in  their  way  of  life,  or  unpretending  in  their  con- 
duct, with  all  who  know  them,  or  with  whom,  in  the  march  of  life, 
they  come  in  contact. 

It  is  to  but  few  that  fortune  throws  her  gifts,  and  these  are 
rarely  the  most  deserving,  or  the  goddess  had  not  been  represented 
with  a  bandage  over  her  eyes.  She  is  blind,  and  though  her  wor- 
shippers are  many,  she  kisses  but  few,  and  cannot  see  if  they  be  fair 
and  beautiful  or  crooked  and  ugly.  Hence  most  of  those  who 
receive  her  favors  conceal  them  in  selfishness,  and  hoard  them  to  be 
despised ;  while  hundreds,  slighted  of  her  gifts,  cultivate  the  virtues 
which  adorn  and  ennoble,  and  are  useful  and  beloved. 

Will  you,  who  yet  live,  and  were  children  when  I  was  a  child, 
turn  back  with  me  in  memory  to  those  days,  and  to  those  who  were 
your  school-fellows  and  playmates  then  ?  Do  you  remember  who 
were  the  brave  and  generous,  kind  and  truthful  among  them  ?  and 
do  you  recall  their  after  lives  ?  Answer  me  ;  were  not  these  the  tnie 
men  in  that  day  ?  Do  you  remember  William  C.  Dawson,  Joseph 
H.  Lumpkin,  Lucius  Q.  C.  Lamar,  and  his  brother  Mirabeau  B. 
Lamar,  Eugenius  Nesbit,  Walter  T.  Colquitt,  and  Eli  S.  Shorter  ? 
How  varied  in  temperament,  in  character,  in  talent;  and  yet  how  like 
in  the  great  leading  features  of  the  soul !  Love  for  their  country, 
love  for  their  kind,  love  for  the  good  was  common  to  them  all ; 
unselfish  beyond  what  was  necessary  to  the  wants  of  their  families, 
generous  in  the  outpourings  of  the  soul,  philanthropic,  and  full  of 
charity.  They  hoarded  no  wealth,  nor  sought  it  as  a  means  of 
power  or  promotion.  Intent  upon  the  general  good,  and  content 
with  an  approving  conscience  and  the  general  approbation,  their 
lives  were  correct,  and  their  services  useful ;  and  they  live  in  the 
memory  of  a  grateful  people  as  public  benefactors. 


F  I  F  T  Y     Y  E  A  R  S.  I  69 

There  are  others  who  rise  to  memory,  who  were  at  school  with  these, 
who  were  men  with  these,  but  they  shall  be  nameless,  who  struggled, 
and  successfully,  to  fill  their  coffers  to  repletion,  and  for  nothing 
else;  who  have  been  courted  by  the  mercenary,  and  flattered  by  the 
fawning  sycophant;  who,  with  their  hoardings,  have  passed  away,  and 
no  grateful  memory  remains  of  their  lives ;  their  hoards  are  dissi- 
pated, and  they  are  only  remembered  to  be  despised.  And  yet 
others,  who  swam  in  the  creek  and  sported  on  the  play-ground  with 
all  of  these,  whose  vicious  propensities  were  apparent  then  —  whose 
after  lives  were  as  their  boyhood  promised,  a  curse  to  society  in  evil 
deeds  and  evil  example  —  have  gone,  too,  unwept,  unhonored,  and 
luckily  unhung. 

Mirabeau  B.  Lamar  was  the  son  of  John  Lamar,  of  Putnam 
County,  Georgia,  and  received  his  education  principally  at  Milledge- 
ville  and  at  Putnam.  From  his  earliest  boyhood,  he  was  remarka- 
ble for  his  genius  and  great  moral  purity.  His  ardent,  poetical 
temperament  was  accompanied  with  exquisite  modesty,  and  a  gentle 
playfulness  of  disposition  ;  with  an  open,  unaffected  kindness  of 
heart,  which  as  a  boy  rendered  him  popular  with  his  fellows  at 
school,  and  beloved  by  his  teachers.  There  was  in  him  a  natural 
chivalry  of  character,  which  characterized  him  above  all  of  his  early 
compeers,  and  made  him  a  model  in  conduct.  Truthful  and  manly, 
retiring  and  diffident,  until  occasion  called  out  the  latent  spirit  of  his 
nature ;  then  the  true  greatness  of  his  soul  would  burst  forth  in  an 
impetuous  eloquence,  startlingly  fierce  and  overwhelming.  Nor  was 
this  excitement  always  wasted  in  words — not  a  few,  when  yet  a  boy, 
have  regretted  the  awakening  of  his  wrath.  It  was  upon  occasions  like 
this,  that  his  eye  assumed  an  expression  which  I  have  never  seen  in 
the  eye  of  any  other  human  being.  His  eyes  were  beautifully  blue, 
large,  and  round,  and  were  always  changing  and  varying  in  their 
expression,  as  the  mind  would  suggest  thought  after  thought ;  and  so 
remarkable  were  these  variations,  that,  watching  him  in  repose,  one 
who  knew  him  well  could  almost  read  the  ideas  gathering  and 
passing  through  his  mind.  There  was  a  pleasant  vein  of  satire  in 
his  nature,  sometimes  expressed,  but  always  in  words  and  in  a  man- 
ner which  plucked  away  its  sting : 


An  abstract  wit  of  gentle  flow, 
Which  wounds  no  friend,  and  hurts  no  foe. 
IS 


170  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

He  was  my  school-fellow  and  companion  in  childhood,  my  friend 
and  associate  in  early  manhood ;  our  intimacy  was  close  and  cordial, 
and  in  after  life  this  friendship  became  intense  —  and  I  knew  him 
perhaps  better  than  any  man  ever  knew  him. 

All  the  peculiarities  of  the  boy  remained  with  the  man,  distin- 
guishing him  in  all  his  associations.  The  refined  purity  of  his  nature 
made  him  naturally  to  despise  and  scorn  all  meanness  and  vice,  and 
so  intensely  as  to  render  an  association  with  any  man  distinguished 
by  these,  however  exalted  his  intellect,  or  extensive  his  attainments, 
impossible.  Falsehood,  or  the  slightest  dishonorable  conduct  in  any 
man,  put  him  at  once  beyond  the  pale  of  his  favor  or  respect.  In  all  my 
association  with  him,  I  never  saw  an  indelicate  act  in  his  conduct,  or 
heard  an  obscene  word  in  his  conversation.  In  youth,  he  was  fond 
of  the  society  of  ladies  —  fond  of  this  society  not  for  a  pastime,  but 
because  of  his  high  appreciation  of  the  virtues  of  those  he  selected 
for  society.  In  his  verse,  "Memoriam,"  he  has  embalmed  the 
memory  of  those  of  our  early  female  friends  he  most  esteemed.  He 
rather  courted  this  association  in  the  individual  than  in  the  collective 
assembly  —  for  he  was  not  fond  of  crowds,  either  in  society,  or  the 
ordinary  assemblages  of  men  and  women. 

The  love  of  fame,  more  than  any  other  passion,  fired  his  ambition ; 
but  it  was  not  the  love  of  notoriety  —  the  fame  he  courted  was  not 
that  which  should  only  render  his  name  conspicuous  among  men,  that 
he  might  receive  the  incense  of  hypocritical  flattery,  or  be  pointed  at 
by  the  fickle  multitude  —  for  such,  his  contempt  was  supreme;  but 
it  was  the  desire  of  his  heart,  and  the  struggle  of  his  life,  to  be  em- 
balmed in  men's  memories  as  the  benefactor  of  his  race,  to  be  remem- 
bered for  his  deeds  as  the  great  and  the  good.  This  was  the  spon- 
taneous prompting  of  his  heart,  and  for  this  he  labored  with  the  zeal 
of  a  martyr. 

Much  of  his  early  life  was  devoted  exclusively  to  literature.  His 
reading,  though  without  order,  was  select  and  extensive.  He  was 
well  versed  in  ancient  history.  The  heroic  characters  of  Greece  and 
Rome  were  his  especial  admiration,  and  that  of  Brutus  above  all 
others.  Of  the  nations  of  modern  Europe,  and  their  history,  he 
knew  everything  history  could  teach.  His  imagination  was  fired 
with  the  heroic  in  the  character  of  those  of  modern  times,  as  well  as 
those  of  antiquity,  and  seemed  the  model  from  which  was  formed 
his  own.  The  inflexible  integrity,  the  devoted  patriotism,  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  I  "Jl 

unselfish  heroism  of  these  were  constantly  his  theme  when  a  school- 
boy, and  the  example  for  his  imitation  in  manhood. 

When  a  school-boy,  and  at  a  public  examination  and  exhibition, 
(then  common  at  the  academies  throughout  the  State,)  our  teacher, 
that  paragon  of  good  men,  Dr.  Alonzo  Church,  selected  the  tragedy 
of  Julius  Caesar  for  representation  by  the  larger  boys,  and,  by  com- 
mon consent,  the  character  of  Brutus  was  assigned  to  Lamar.  Every 
one  felt  that  the  lofty  patriotism  and  heroic  virtues  of  the  old  Roman 
would  find  a  fit  representative  in  Lamar.  I  remember,  in  our 
rehearsals,  how  completely  his  identity  would  be  lost  in  that  of 
Brutus.  He  seemed  to  enter  into  all  the  feelings  and  the  motives 
which  prompted  the  great  soul  of  the  Roman  to  slay  his  friend  for 
his  country's  good.  Time  has  left  but  one  or  two  who  participated 
in  the  play.  The  grave  has  closed  over  Lamar,  as  over  the  others. 
Those  who  remain  will  remember  the  bearing  of  their  companion, 
on  that  occasion,  as  extraordinary  —  the  struggle  between  inclina- 
tion and  duty — the  pathos  with  which  he  delivered  his  speech  to  the 
people  after  the  assassination,  but  especially  his  bearing  and  manner 
in  the  reply  to  Cassius*  proposition  to  swear  the  conspirators  —  the 
expansion  of  his  person  to  all  its  proportions,  as  if  his  soul  was  about 
to  burst  from  his  body,  as  he  uttered : 

«'  No,  not  an  oath." 

And  again,  when   the  burning   indignation  burst  from  him  at  the 
supposition  of  the  necessity  of  an  oath  to  bind  honorable  men  : 

"  Swear  priests,  and  cowards,  and  men  cautelous, 
Old,  feeble,  carious,  and  such  suffering  souls 
That  welcome  wrongs,  unto  bad  causes.     Swear 
Such  creatures  as  men  doubt,  but  do  not  stain 
The  even  virtue  of  our  enterprise, 
Nor  the  unsuppressive  mettle  of  our  spirits, 
To  think  that  our  cause,  or  our  performance, 
Did  need  an  oath ;  when  every  drop  of  blood 
That  every  Roman  bears,  and  nobly  bears, 
Is  guilty  of  a  several  bastardy 
If  he  do  break  the  smallest  particle 
Of  any  promise  that  hath  passed  from  him." 

Though  a  boy,  the  effect  upon  the  audience  was  electrical.     The 
nature  of  his  boy  representative  >pisjthe  same  as  that  which  animated 


172  THE     MEM  DRIES     OF 

Rome's  noblest  son.  From  his  soul  he  felt  every  word,  and  they 
burned  from  his  lips,  with  a  truth  to  his  soul  and  sentiments,  that 
went  home  to  every  heart  in  that  assembly  of  plain  farmers,  and 
their  wives  and  daughters.  There  were  not  ten,  perhaps,  who  had 
ever  witnessed  a  theatrical  entertainment,  but  their  hearts  were 
mortal  and  honest,  and  they  saw  in  the  mimic  youth  the  impersona- 
tion of  the  nobility  of  soul,  and  mighty  truth,  and  the  spontaneous 
burst  of  applause  was  but  the  sincerity  of  truth.  The  exclamation 
of  one  I  shall  never  forget:  "He  is  cut  out  for  a  great  man." 
There  was  no  stage-trick ;  he  had  never  seen  a  theatre.  There  was 
no  assumption  of  fictitious  feeling;  but  nature  bubbled  up  in  his 
heart,  and  the  words  of  Shakspeare,  put  into  the  mouth  of  Brutus, 
were  but  the  echo  of  the  deep,  true  feelings  of  his  soul.  Through 
all  his  life  this  great  nature  adorned  his  conversation,  and  exemplified 
his  conduct. 

The  soul  of  Brutus  was  born  in  Lamar.  All  the  truth  and  chivalry 
illustrative  of  the  conduct  of  the  one,  was  palpable  in  the  other.  Let 
those  who  saw  him,  at  San  Jacinto,  at  the  head  of  his  sixty  horsemen, 
ride  upon  the  ranks  of  Santa  Anna's  hosts,  tell  of  his  bearing  in  that 
memorable  charge,  when  he  rose  in  his  stirrups,  and,  waving  his  sword 
over  his  head,  exclaimed :  "Remember,  men,  the  Alamo !  Remem- 
ber Goliad,  Fannin,  Bowie,  and  Travis  !  Charge  !  and  strike  in  ven- 
geance for  the  murdered  of  our  companions."  Resistless  as  the 
tempest,  they  followed  his  lead,  and  swept  down  upon  the  foe, 
charging  through,  and  disordering  their  ranks,  and,  following  in 
their  flight  for  miles,  made  many  a  Mexican  bite  the  dust,  or  yield 
himself  a  prisoner  to  their  intrepidity.  To  this  charge  was  solely 
attributable  the  capture  of  Santa  Anna,  Almonte,  and  the  principal 
portion  of  the  Mexican  army,  and  the  establishment  of  Texan  inde- 
pendence. 

As  a  poet,  he  was  above  mediocrity,  and  his  "Sully  Riley,"  and 
many  of  his  fugitive  pieces,  will  long  survive,  to  perpetuate  the 
refined  delicacy  of  his  nature,  when,  perhaps,  his  deeds  as  a  soldier 
and  as  President  of  Texas  shall  have  passed  away.  In  stature  he 
was  below  the  medium  height,  but  was  stout  and  muscular.  His 
face  was  oval,  and  his  eyes  blue,  and  exceedingly  soft  and  tender 
in  their  expression,  save  when  aroused  by  excitement,  when  they 
were  blazing  and  luminous  with  the  fire  of  his  soul,  which  enkindled 
them.  He  was  free  from  every  vice,  temperate  in  living,  and 


FIFTY     YEARS.  173 

remarkable  for  his  indifference  to  money  —  with  a  lofty  contempt 
for  the  friends  and  respectability  which  it  alone  conferred.  If  there 
ever  lived  four  men  insensible  to  fear,  or  superior  to  corruption, 
they  were  the  four  brothers  Lamar.  They  are  all  in  eternity,  and 
their  descendants  are  few,  but  they  wear  unstained  the  mantle  of 
their  ancestry. 

L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  the  elder  brother  of  the  four,  was  educated  at 
Franklin  College,  and  studied  law  in  Milledgeville.  Very  soon  after, 
he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar.  He  became  distinguished  for  attention 
to  business,  and  for  talent,  as  well  as  legal  attainments.  Like  his 
brother,  M.  B.  Lamar,  he  was  remarkable  for  his  acute  sense  of 
honor  and  open  frankness,  a  peerless  independence,  and  warm  and 
noble  sympathies.  He  married,  while  young,  the  daughter  of  D. 
Bird.  The  mother  of  his  lady  was  one  of  the  Williamson  sisters,  so 
remarkable  for  their  superiority,  intellectually,  and  whose  descend- 
ants have  been,  and  are,  so  distinguished  for  talent. 

The  character  of  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar  as  a  man,  and  as  a  lawyer, 
prompted  the  Legislature  of  the  State  to  elevate  him  to  the  Bench 
of  the  Superior  Court  when  very  young ;  and  at  thirty-two  years  of 
age,  he  was  known  throughout  the  State  as  the  great  Judge  Lamar. 
1  his  family  had  contributed  perhaps  a  greater  number  of  men  of 
distinguished  character  than  any  other  family  of  the  State.  Zachariah 
Lamar,  the  uncle  of  Judge  Lamar,  was  a  man  of  high  order  of  mind, 
distinguished  for  his  love  of  truth,  stern  honesty,  and  great  energy. 
He  was  the  father  of  Colonel  John  B.  Lamar,  who  fell  in  the  service 
of  the  South,  in  the  recent  conflict.  He  was  one  of  Georgia's 
noblest  sons,  and  his  memory  is  cherished  by  all  who  knew  him. 
Henry  G.  Lamar,  a  former  member  of  Congress,  and  Judge  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  the  State,  was  a  cousin  of  both  John  B.  and  M.  B. 
Lamar ;  and  the  eminent  and  eloquent  Lucius  Lamar,  of  Mississippi, 
who  was  considered,  when  young,  the  best  orator  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States  Congress,  is  the  son  of  Judge 
L.  Q.  C.  Lamar. 

The  name  of  Lamar  has  long  been  a  synonym  for  talent  and 
chivalrous  honor  in  Georgia.  They  have  been  distinguished  in 
every  pursuit,  and  no  stain  has  ever  rested  upon  the  name  —  in 
whatever  avocation  employed,  conspicuous  for  capacity,  honesty, 
and  energy.  They  are  of  French  extraction,  and  to  their  latest 
posterity  they  continue  to  exhibit  those  traits  peculiar  to  the  French 
15* 


1 74  THEMEMORIESOF 

chivalry,  intense  sensibility,  love  of  truth,  refinement  of  manner, 

lofty  bearing,  and  a  devotion  to  honor  which  courts  death  rather 
than  dishonor. 

The  name  of  M.  B.  Lamar  is  identified  with  the  history  of  Texas, 
as  a  leader  among  that  band  of  remarkable  men  who  achieved  her 
independence  of  Mexican  rule — Houston,  Sidney  Johnson,  Bowie, 
Travis,  Crockett,  and  Fannin.  He  was  twice  married ;  his  first  wife, " 
Miss  Jordan,  died  young,  leaving  him  a  daughter.  This  was  a  bitter 
blow,  and  it  was  long  ere  he  recovered  it.  His  second  wife  was  the 
daughter  of  the  distinguished  Methodist  preacher  John  Newland 
Moffitt,  and  sister  of  Captain  Moffitt,  late  of  the  service  of  the  Con- 
federacy. He  died  at  Richmond,  Fort  Bend  County,  Texas,  beloved 
and  regretted  as  few  have  been. 

Perhaps  among  the  most  remarkable  men  of  the  State,  contempo- 
raneous with  the  Lamars,  was  Walter  T.  Colquitt,  Joseph  H. 
Lumpkin,  Charles  J.  Jenkins,  William  C.  Dawson,  and  Charles  J. 
McDonald:  all  of  these  were  natives  of  the  State  —  Colquitt,  Eugenius 
A.  Nesbit,  and  McDonald,  of  Hancock  County ;  Lumpkins,  Ogle- 
thorpe,  Dawson,  Green,  and  Jenkins,  of  Richmond;  Nesbit,  of 
Greene.  At  the  period  of  time  when  these  men  were  young,  educa- 
tion was  deemed  essential,  at  least  to  professional  men.  They  all 
enjoyed  the  benefits  of  a  classical  education.  Lumpkin  and  Colquitt 
received  theirs  at  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  and  I  believe  were  class- 
mates, at  least  they  were  college-mates.  Colquitt  returned  home 
before  graduating ;  Lumpkin  received  the  second  honor  in  his  class. 
Returning  to  Georgia,  Lumpkin  read  law  in  the  town  of  Lexington, 
the  court-house  town  of  his  native  county ;  and  commenced,  as  soon 
as  admitted,  its  practice  in  the  northern  circuit  of  the  State.  At  the 
time  he  came  to  the  Bar,  it  was  ornamented  with  such  men  as 
Thomas  W.  Cobb,  Stephen  Upson,  George  R.  Gilmer,  John  A. 
Herd,  and  Duncan  G.  Campbell.  He  rose  rapidly  to  eminence  in 
the  midst  of  this  galaxy  of  talent  and  learning.  The  great  John  M. 
Dooly  was  upon  the  bench  of  this  circuit,  and  was  the  intimate 
friend  of  Wilson  Lumpkin,  an  elder  brother  of  Joseph  H.  Lumpkin. 

Wilson  Lumpkin  and  Joseph  H.  Lumpkin  were  politically  opposed. 
The  former  was  an  especial  friend  of  Dooly ;  the  latter,  of  William 
H.  Crawford.  Mr.  Crawford,  soon  after  Lumpkin's  admission  to 
the  Bar,  returned  to  his  home,  near  Lexington,  and  gave  his  counte- 
nance and  support  to  him,  and  at  the  same  time  his  bitterest  oppo- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  175 

sition  to  the  political  aspirations  of  his  brother.  The  forensic 
abilities  of  young  Lumpkin  were  winning  for  him  in  the  State  a  proud 
eminence.  His  exalted  moral  character,  studious  habits,  and  devo- 
tion to  business  attracted  universal  observation  and  general  com- 
ment. He  had  been  from  his  birth  the  favorite  of  all  his 
acquaintances,  for  the  high  qualities  of  his  head  and  heart — the 
model  held  up  by  mothers  for  the  example  of  their  sons.  Scarcely 
any  boy  in  the  county  was  ever  reprimanded  for  a  wild  frolic  or  piece 
of  amusing  mischief,  who  was  not  asked,  "Why  can't  you  be  like 
Joe  Lumpkin?  " 

All  this  favoritism,  however  flattering,  did  not  spoil  him,  as  is  too 
frequently  the  case  with  precocious  youth.  His  ambition  had  fixed  a 
lofty  mark,  and  he  availed  himself  of  this  universal  popularity  to 
reach  it ;  at  the  same  time,  he  left  no  effort  neglected  to  deserve  it, 
and  maintain  it,  once  acquired. 

The  State  was  teeming  with  young  men  of  talent,  scarcely  a  county 
without  at  least  one  of  great  promise.  Lumpkin  saw  and  knew  the 
rivalry  would  be  fierce,  and  success  only  to  be  obtained  by  superior 
abilities  and  eminent  attainments.  The  Legislature  was  the  first  step 
to  fame,  and  political  fame  then  the  most  desired  and  the  most 
sought.  Party  was  rancorous  in  its  spirit,  producing  intense  excite- 
ment, pervading  every  bosom,  male  and  female,  to  the  extremes  of 
the  State  —  an  excitement  which  so  stamped  itself  upon  the  hearts  of 
the  entire  people  as  to  endure,  and  to  mark  their  character  and 
opinions  even  until  to-day. 

Lumpkin  was  very  decided  in  his  opinions,  and  open^  in  their 
expression,  yet  there  was  none  of  that  empoisoned  bitterness  in  these 
expressions  so  characteristic  of  political  aspirants  in  that  day.  Such 
was  alien  to  his  kindly  nature ;  and  if  it  had  not  been,  there  were 
other  causes  to  estop  him  from  any  such  indulgence.  His  family  was 
large.  There  were  eight  brothers ;  only  one  of  these  was  younger 
than  himself;  these  were  about  equally  divided  in  political  sentiment, 
and  they,  at  least  some  of  them,  less  amiable  or  less  considerate  than 
himself.  He  was  the  favorite  of  all,  and  was  continually  in  communi- 
cation with  all  of  them,  and  was  really  the  moderator  of  the  family, 
and  the  healer  of  its  feuds.  At  this  time,  too,  the  deep  morality  of 
his  nature  was  growing  into  piety,  and  this  sentiment  was  mellowing 
from  his  heart  even  the  little  of  unkindness  that  had  ever  found  a 
place  there. 


i;6  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

At  twenty-five  years  of  age  he  was  sent,  by  an  almost  unanimous 
vote,  to  the  Legislature  from  his  county.  He  came  with  an  exag- 
gerated reputation  for  talent,  especially  for  oratorical  talent,  and 
many  of  his  friends  feared  he  would  not  be  able  to  sustain  it  in  that 
body,  where  there  were  many  of  age  and  experience,  with  characters 
already  long  established  for  learning  and  eloquence,  and  also  many 
young  men  from  different  parts  of  the  State,  who,  like  himself,  had 
already  won  fame  for  high  talent.  Among  these  was  Robert  Augustus 
Bell,  in  sight  of  whose  grave  I  write  these  lines.  He  passed  away 
in  early  life,  but  Georgia  never  produced  a  brighter  or  a  nobler 
spirit.  There  were  also  Charles  Dougherty,  (who  died  young,  but 
not  without  making  his  mark,)  William  Law,  Hopkins  Holsey,  and 
others,  who  have  honored  themselves  and  the  State  by  eminent 
services  on  the  Bench  and  at  the  Bar,  and  in  the  councils  of  their 
native  and  other  States  to  which  many  of  them  emigrated. 

At  the  very  opening  of  the  session,  Lumpkin  took  position  with 
the  first  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  His  first 
speech  was  one  of  thrilling  eloquence,  and,  before  its  conclusion, 
had  emptied  the  Senate  chamber ;  many  of  its  oldest  and  most 
talented  members  crowding  about  him,  and  listening  with  delight. 

The  memory  of  that  day  revives  with  the  freshness  of  yesterday. 
Two  or  three  only  remain  with  me  now,  to  recall  the  delight  with 
which  all  hearts  were  filled  who  acted,  politically,  with  Lumpkins, 
as  the  beautiful  and  cogent  sentences  thrilled  from  his  lips,  with  a 
trembling  fervor,  which  came  from  an  excitement  born  of  the  heart, 
and  which  went  to  the  heart.  Bell,  Brailsford,  Dougherty,  Rumbert, 
and  Baxter,  who,  with  myself,  grouped  near  him,  all  are  in  the  grave, 
save  only  I,  and,  standing  a  few  weeks  since  by  the  fresh  mould  that 
covers  Joseph  H.  Lumpkin,  and  yesterday  by  the  grave  of  Bell,  my 
mind  wandered  back  to  the  old  State  House,  and  to  those  who  were 
with  me  there.  Separated  for  more  than  forty  years  from  the  home 
of  my  birth,  being  with,  and  becoming  a  part  of  another  people  — 
a  noble,  generous,  and  gallant  people  —  and  almost  forgetting  my 
mother  tongue,  these  had  faded  away  almost  into  forgetfulness ;  but, 
tottering  with  years,  and  full  of  sorrows,  I  am  here  amid  the  scenes 
made  lovely  and  memorable  by  their  presence,  when  we  were  all 
young  and  hopeful.  They  come  back  to  me,  and  now,  while  I  write, 
it  seems  their  spirits  float  in  the  air  of  my  chamber,  and  smile  at  me. 
Why  is  my  summons  delayed  so  long  ?  All  that  made  life  lovely  is 


FIFTY     YEARS.  177 

gi-»«e  —  voutn.  fortune,  and  household  gods.  My  children  are  in 
bloody  graves  —  she  who  bore  them  preceded  them  to  eternity;  yet 
I  live  on,  and  sigh,  and  remember,  while  imagination  peoples  with 
the  past  the  scenes  about  me.  The  faces,  the  jest,  and  merry  laugh 
come  again  ;  I  see  and  hear  them  again.  Oblivion  veils  away  the 
interval  of  forty-five  years,  and  all  is  as  it  was.  Oh,  could  the  illu- 
sion last  till  death  shall  make  it  truth  !  It  is,  I  feel,  but  a  foretaste 
of  the  reality  soon  to  be,  when  hearts  with  hearts  shall  group  again, 
and  the  reunion  of  sundered  ties  be  eternal. 

Lumpkin  served  a  few  sessions  in  the  Legislature,  and  retired  from 
public  life  to  devote  his  entire  attention  to  his  profession.  He  had 
married,  almost  as  soon  as  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar,  one  to  whom 
he  had  been  attached  from  boyhood,  and  the  cares  of  a  family  were 
increasing  and  demanding  his  attention  and  efforts.  No  man  ever 
more  faithfully  discharged  these  duties. 

The  judiciary  of  Georgia  had  consisted  of  two  courts  only  —  the 
superior,  and  inferior  or  county  court  —  from  the  organization  of 
the  State.  The  country  had  long  felt  the  want  of  a  supreme  court, 
for  the  correction  of  errors,  and  to  render  uniform  the  decisions 
upon  the  law  throughout  the  State,  which,  under  the  prevailing  sys- 
tem, had  become  very  diverse,  and  which  was  becoming  grievously 
oppressive.  Finally  it  was  determined  by  the  Legislature  to  establish 
a  supreme  court.  After  the  passage  of  the  law,  however,  its  organ- 
ization was  incomplete  for  the  want  of  judges.  Party  was  distracting 
the  councils  of  the  State,  and  was  carried  into  everything,  and  each 
party  desired  a  controlling  influence  in  this  court,  and  their  united 
co-operation  in  selecting  judges  could  only  be  effected  by  the  domi- 
nant party  consenting  to  Joseph  H.  Lumpkin's  accepting  the  chief- 
justiceship.  He  consented  to  do  so,  and  the  organization  of  the 
court  was  completed.  This  position,  under  repeated  elections,  he 
continued  to  hold  until  the  day  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  the 
spring  of  1867. 

No  man,  perhaps,  ever  had  the  confidence  of  a  people  in  the  dis- 
charge of  a  high  judicial  duty  more  than  had  Joseph  H.  Lumpkin. 
His  public  duties  were  discharged  with  the  most  scrupulous  con- 
scientiousness, as  were  all  of  those  pertaining  to  his  private  life  and 
relations.  He  died  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  birth,  and  where  he 
had  continued  to  live  through  his  whole  life,  passing  through  time 
with  the  companions  of  his  childhood,  and  preserving  their  confi- 

M 


j  78  THE     MEM  OKIES     OF 

dence  and  affection  to  the  last.  His  death  was  sudden,  and  deeply 
mourned  throughout  the  State,  which  had  delighted  so  long  to  honor 
him.  His  name  is  identified  with  her  history,  as  one  of  her  brightest 
and  best  men. 

The  talents  of  Judge  Lumpkin  were  of  a  high  order,  and  though 
he  distinguished  himself  as  a  jurist,  they  were  certainly  more  fitted 
for  the  forum  than  the  bench.  Those  who  knew  him  best,  and  who 
were  best  fitted  to  /judge,  unite  in  the  opinion  that  his  eminence  in 
political  life  would  have  been  greater  than  that  which  distinguished 
him  as  a  judge.  He  was  a  natural  orator,  and  his  oratory  was  of  the 
highest  order.  His  ideas  flowed  too  fast  for  the  pen,  and  he  thought 
more  vividly  when  on  his  feet,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  multitude,  than 
when  in  the  privacy  of  his  chamber.  His  language  was  naturally 
ornate  and  eloquent,  and  the  stream  of  thought  which  flowed  on  ;n 
declamation,  brightened  and  grew,  in  its  progress,  to  a  nwhty 
volume.  This,  with  the  fervor  of  intense  feeling  which  distinguished 
his  efforts,  made  them  powerfully  effective.  In  toning  down  these 
feelings,  and  repressing  the  ornate  and  beautiful  to  the  cold,  concise 
legal  opinion,  his  delivery  lost  not  only  its  beauty,  but  much  of  its 
strength  and  power.  He  might  have  been  less  useful,  but  certainly 
he  would  have  been  more  distinguished,  had  he  pursued  the  bent  of 
his  genius.  Abilities  like  Lumpkin's  must  succeed  respectably,  if 
directed  to  any  pursuit ;  and  even  should  they  be  prostituted  to  base 
and  dishonorable  purposes,  they  will  distinguish  the  possessor  above 
the  herd. 

His  temperament  was  nervous,  his  sensibility  acute,  and  his  senti- 
ments exalted.  Fluent,  with  great  command  of  language,  he  was 
peculiarly  gifted  for  display  in  debate,  and  it  was  supposed,  when  he 
first  came  into  the  Legislature,  that  he  would  soon  rise  to  the  first 
position  in  the  national  councils.  But  he  determined  for  himself  a 
different  field ;  and,  in  view  of  his  eminent  services  as  an  able  and 
conscientious  judge,  who  shall  say  he  did  not  choose  wisely  ? 

In  an  almost  adjoining  county  to  that  of  the  residence  of  Judge 
Lumpkin,  was  coming  forward,  in  the  profession  of  law,  another 
gifted  son  of  Georgia  —  Walter  T.  Colquitt.  He  was  a  compeer,  at 
the  Bar,  of  Chief-Justice  Lumpkin.  They  were  admitted  to  practice 
about  the  same  time.  He  was  a  native  of  the  county  of  Hancock. 
MIS  mother  was  the  only  sister  of  the  eight  brothers  Holt,  every  one 
of  whom  was  distinguished  for  probity  and  worth.  They  all  lived 


FIFTY     YEARS.  179 

and  died  in  the  State,  and  every  one  of  them  was  a  representative 
man.  They  have  all  left  descendants  but  one,  and  none  yet  have 
stained  the  name.  As  their  ancestors,  they  are  energetic,  honest, 
and  most  worthy  citizens. 

Colquitt  gave  evidence,  when  very  young,  of  his  future  career. 
As  a  boy,  he  was  wild  and  full  of  mirth,  but  little  inclined  to  study. 
He  was  fond  of  sport  of  every  kind,  and  in  everything  to  which  his 
mind  and  inclinations  turned,  he  would  be  first.  Compelled,  by 
parental  authority,  to  apply  himself,  he  at  once  mastered  his  task, 
and  was  ready,  then,  for  fun  or  frolic.  Remarkable  for  physical 
powers,  he  fondly  embarked  in  all  athletic  sports,  and  in  all 
excelled.  Bold  and  fearless,  he  was  the  leader  in  all  adventures  of 
mischief,  and  always  met  the  consequences  in  the  same  spirit.  It 
was  remarked  of  him,  when  a  boy,  by  one  who  knew  him  well,  that 
in  all  he  did  he  played  "high,  game,"  never  "low,  Jack." 

In  the  wildness  of  his  mischief  there  was  always  discoverable  bold- 
ness and  mind.  At  school  and  at  college,  though  rarely  winning  an 
honor,  he  was  always  admitted  by  his  fellows  to  possess  superior 
abilities.  These  abilities  were  manifest  more  in  the  originality  of  his 
ideas,  and  their  peculiar  exemplification  in  his  conduct,  than  in  the 
sober,  every-day  manner  of  thought  and  action.  His  mind  was  ver- 
satile, and  seemed  capable  of  grasping  and  analyzing  any  subject. 
Quick  to  perceive  and  prompt  to  execute,  yielding  obedience  to  no 
dogma,  legal  or  political,  he  followed  the  convictions  of  his  mind, 
without  regard  to  precedent  or  example.  His  knowledge  of  human 
nature  seemed  intuitive,  and  his  capacity  of  adaptation  was  without 
limit.  At  the  period  when  he  commenced  the  practice  of  law,  the 
successful  abilities  in  the  profession  were  forensic.  Every  case  was 
tried  by  a  jury,  and  the  law  made  juries  judges  of  law  and  fact. 
The  power  to  control  and  direct  these  was  the  prime  qualification 
of  a  lawyer,  and  nature  had  bestowed  this,  in  an  eminent  degree, 
upon  Colquitt.  There  were  few  more  eminent  as  advocates,  or 
more  successful  as  practitioners,  though  his  legal  attainments  were 
never  of  a  very  high  order.  He  was  elevated  to  the  bench,  where 
he  remained  but  a  short  time,  feeling  that  this  was  no  situation  for 
the  display  of  his  peculiar  powers,  nor  the  proper  or  successful 
course  for  the  gratification  of  his  ambition.  He  had,  at  a  previous 
time,  united  himself  with  the  Methodist  Church,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach.  It  was  his  habit  to  open  his  court,  each  morning,  with 


l8o  THE     MEM  OKIES     OF 

prayer,  and  not  unfrequently,  during  the  week  of  his  court,  in  each 
county  of  his  circuit,  to  preach  two  or  three  sermons.  He  was  a 
general  of  the  militia,  and  would  come  down  from  the  bench  to 
review  a  regiment  or  brigade.  It  was  this  discharge  of  his  multifarious 
duties  which  prompted  an  aged  sister  of  his  church,  when  the  great 
men  of  the  State  were  being  discussed  by  the  venerable  ladies  of  a 
certain  neighborhood,  to  claim  the  palm  for  Colquitt. 

"Ah !  you  may  talk  of  your  great  men,  but  none  on  'em  is  equal 
to  brother  Colquitt ;  for  he,  in  our  county,  tried  a  man  for  his  life, 
and  sentenced  him  to  be  hung,  preached  a  sermon,  mustered  all  the 
men  in  the  county,  married  two  people,  and  held  a  prayer-meeting, 
all  in  one  day.  Now,  wa'n't  that  great?  " 

Before  a  jury  he  was  unequalled.  His  knowledge  of  men  enabled 
him  to  determine  the  character  of  every  juror,  and  his  versatility  to 
adapt  his  argument  or  address  to  their  feelings  and  prejudices  so 
effectually  as  to  secure  a  verdict  in  mere  compliment  to  the  advo- 
cate. He  left  the  bench  to  enter  the  political  arena.  It  was  here 
he  found  the  field  nature  designed  him  for.  Before  the  people  he 
was  omnipotent.  At  this  period  Dawson,  Cooper,  Colquitt,  Cobb, 
Stephens,  and  Toombs  were  before  the  people  —  all  men  of  talent, 
and  all  favorites  in  the  State.  This  was  especially  true  of  Dawson, 
Cobb,  and  Stephens,  and  no  men  better  deserved  the  public  favor. 

Very  soon  after  he  went  into  Congress,  he,  with  Cooper  and 
Black,  abandoned  the  Whig  party.  At  the  approaching  election 
they  canvassed  the  State,  and  justified  their  course  before  the  people. 
There  was  no  middle  ground  on  which  to  stand.  To  abandon  one 
party,  was  to  go  over,  horse,  foot,  and  dragoons,  to  the  other,  which 
was  always  ready  to  welcome  new  converts  of  talent  and  popularity. 
These  three  became,  in  the  canvass,  the  champions  of  Democracy, 
and  fiercely  waged  the  war  in  antagonism  with  their  former  allies. 
In  this  contest  were  made  manifest  the  great  abilities  of  Colquitt, 
Toombs,  Stephens,  Cobb,  and  Herschel  V.  Johnson. 

Subsequently,  Colquitt  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate, 
where  he  was  distinguished  as  a  debater  and  leading  man  of  the 
Democratic  party ;  but  his  talents  and  peculiar  manner  were  better 
suited  for  the  debates  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the 
hustings. 

Lumpkin  was  ardent  and  persuasive.  Colquitt  was  equally  ardent, 
but  more  aggressive.  Where  Lumpkin  solicited  with  a  burning 


FIFTY    YEARS.  igl 

pathos,  Colquitt  demanded  with  the  bitterest  sarcasm.  Lumpkin 
was  slow  and  considerate ;  Colquitt  was  rapid  and  overwhelming. 
The  one  was  the  sun's  soft,  genial  warmth  ;  the  other,  the  north 
wind's  withering  blast.  Colquitt  was  remarkable  for  daring  intre- 
pidity ;  Lumpkin  for  collected  firmness.  Lumpkin  persuaded ;  Col- 
quitt frightened.  Both  were  brave,  but  Colquitt  was  fiercely  so. 
Lumpkin  was  mild,  but  determined.  Unaggressive  himself,  the  dig- 
nity and  gentleness  of  his  character  repelled  it  in  others.  The 
consequence  was,  that  he  passed  through  life  without  strife  with  his 
fellow-man,  while  Colquitt  was  frequently  in  personal  conflict  with 
those  as  impetuous  as  himself.  The  open  frankness  and  social  nature 
of  Colquitt  won  him  many  friends,  and  of  that  description  most 
useful  to  politicians  —  friends  who  were  devoted,  who  felt  for,  and 
preferred  him  to  any  other  man.  His  features  were  versatile,  and 
variable  as  an  April  day,  betraying  every  emotion  of  his  mind  — 
especially  his  eyes,  which  were  soft  or  fierce,  as  the  passion  of  the 
heart  sprang  to  view  in  them,  and  spoke  his  soul's  sensations.  His 
oratory  was  playful,  awakening  wild  mirth  in  his  auditors,  and  again 
it  was  impetuous  and  sarcastic,  overwhelming  with  invective  and 
denunciation. 

Charles  J.  Jenkins,  a  compeer  of  Lumpkin  and  Colquitt,  was  essen- 
tially different  from  both  in  many  of  the  features  of  his  character. 
His  mind  was  more  logical,  more  analytical,  and  capable  of  deeper 
research.  He  had  little  ambition,  and  whenever  he  was  before  the 
people,  it  was  when  his  friends  thrust  him  there.  The  instinctive 
morality  of  his  nature,  like  that  of  Lumpkin,  would  never  permit  the 
compromise  of  conscience  or  dignity  of  character  so  often  the 
case  with  men  of  ardent  natures  and  intense  ambition.  Eminently 
cool  in  debate,  he  never  made  any  attempt  at  forensic  display,  but 
confined  himself  exclusively  to  the  logic  of  his  subject.  He  clearly 
saw  his  way,  and  carefully  went  along,  spurning  ornament  or  volu- 
bility, and  only  compelling  into  service  words  which  clearly  and 
succinctly  conveyed  his  ideas,  and  these  only  elucidated  the  subject- 
matter  he  was  discussing.  Strictly  honest,  and  equally  truthful,  he 
never  deviated,  under  any  circumstances,  from  what  he  believed  his 
duty.  Only  for  a  short  time  was  he  in  the  Legislature,  and  then  he 
displayed  in  most  exciting  times  the  great  virtues  of  his  nature. 

Upon  one  occasion,  the  party  with  which  he  acted  determined,  to 
defeat  a  certain  measure,  to  leave  the  chamber  in  a  body,  and  break 
16 


1 82  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

the  quorum.  It  was  the  only  means  in  their  power  to  prevent  a 
measure  which  they  deemed  wrong  in  principle  and  injurious  to  the 
public  interest.  Jenkins  thought  such  extreme  measures  wrong,  and 
entirely  unjustifiable.  Though  as  much  opposed  to  the  views  of  the 
majority  as  any  member  of  his  party,  he  refused  to  participate  in 
their  action,  and  was  the  only  member  of  the  party  who  persistently 
remained  in  his  seat.  This  conduct  was  censured  by  his  party  friends, 
and  he  immediately  resigned  his  seat  and  returned  to  his  constituency, 
who,  knowing  and  appreciating  the  great  worth  of  the  man,  returned 
him  at  once  to  his  seat  under  a  new  election.  In  all  the  relations  of  life 
the  same  traits  of  character  have  distinguished  him.  While  at  the 
Bar,  his  rank  was  the  first ;  this,  combined  with  his  integrity  and  great 
firmness,  made  him  so  conspicuous  before  the  people  of  the  State, 
that  he  was  placed  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  —  a  position 
he  distinguished  by  his  great  legal  attainments,  dignity,  and  purity. 

The  political  opinions  of  Judge  Jenkins  were  in  many  of  their 
features  unpopular.  He  was  always  opposed  to  universal  suffrage, 
and  made  no  secret  of  his  sentiments.  He  was  opposed  to  an 
elective  judiciary,  and  to  mob-rule  in  every  shape.  He  despised 
alike  the  arts  and  the  humiliation  of  party  politicians,  and  was  never 
a  man  to  accept  for  public  trust  any  man  whose  only  recommenda- 
tion to  public  favor  was  his  availability,  because  of  his  popularity 
with  the  masses.  He  was  taken  from  the  supreme  bench  to  fill  the 
gubernatorial  chair  of  the  State,  and  no  man,  not  even  Jackson, 
Early,  or  Troup,  ever  more  dignified  this  elevated  position  —  none 
ever  had  the  same  trying  difficulties  to  encounter.  Chosen  by  the 
people  at  a  period  when  civil  war  had  distracted  the  government  and 
uprooted  all  the  landmarks  so  long  the  guide  for  those  who  preceded 
him — when  a  manifest  determination  of  the  so-called  Congress,  repre- 
senting but  two-thirds  of  the  States,  was  apparent  to  usurp  all  power 
—  when  the  State  governments  of  ten  States,  though  that  of  their 
people,  were  threatened  with  military  usurpation,  Jenkins  remained 
firm  to  his  convictions  of  duty.  The  credit  of  the  State  had  never 
suffered  while  under  his  guardianship  j  a  large  amount  was  in  her 
treasury  ;  this  was  an  objective  point  for  the  usurpers.  He  met  the 
military  satrap,  and  was  assured  of  his  intentions.  Satisfied  of  his 
insincerity  and  dishonesty,  knowing  he  held  the  power  of  the 
bayonet,  and  would  be  unscrupulous  in  its  use,  calm  as  a  Roman 
senator  he  defied  the  power  of  this  unprincipled  minion  of  a  base, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  183 

corrupt,  and  unconstitutional  power,  and  deliberately  removed  the 
treasure  of  the  State,  and  applied  it  to  the  liquidation  of  her  obliga- 
tions. Hurled  from  the  office  bestowed  by  his  fellow-citizens,  so  far 
as  he  could  he  protected  their  interests,  at  the  hazard  of  the  horrors 
of  Fort  Pulaski  and  the  sweat-box  —  the  favorite  instruments  of  torture 
of  this  infamous  defendant  of  an  irresponsible  Congress,  and  now^for 
personal  safety,  exiled  from  home  and  country,  finds  protection 
under  a  foreign  flag.  This  one  act  alone  will  be  sufficient  to  immor- 
talize the  name  of  Charles  J.  Jenkins,  and  to  swell  with  pride  the 
heart  of  every  true  Georgian  who  aided  to  place  such  a  man  in  such 
a  position,  at  such  a  time.  Governor  Jenkins  still  lives,  and  if  the 
prayers  of  a  virtuous  and  oppressed  people  may  avail  on  high,  will 
be  spared  to  reap  in  better  days  his  reward  in  their  gratitude. 

An  exalted  intellect,  unaccompanied  with  exalted  virtue,  can  never 
constitute  greatness.  In  whatever  position  placed,  or  whatever 
inducements  persuade,  virtue  and  a  conscientious  conviction  of  right 
must  regulate  the  mind  and  conduct  of  man  to  make  him  great. 
The  tortuous  course  of  politics,  made  so  by  unprincipled  men, 
renders  the  truly  upright  man  usually  a  poor  politician.  He  who 
possesses  the  capacity  to  discern  the  true  interests  of  a  country,  and 
who  will  virtuously  labor  to  secure  and  promote  those  interests,  defy- 
ing opposition  and  fearlessly  braving  the  calumnies  of  interested,  cor- 
nipt  men,  organized  into  parties  —  which  so  often  lose  sight  of  the 
interests  of  their  country,  in  promoting  party  ends,  or  from  inflamed 
passions  —  is  the  great  man.  He  whose  pedestal  is  virtue,  and  whose 
action  is  honest,  secures  the  respect  of  his  own  age,  and  becomes 
the  luminary  of  succeeding  ages.  Stern  honesty  often  imposes 
unpleasant  duties  —  strict  obedience  to  its  behests,  not  unfrequently 
involves  apparent  inconsistencies  of  conduct ;  but  the  conscientious 
man  will  disregard  these  in  doing  what  his  judgment  determines 
right  —  the  only  real  consistency  which  sustains  a  man  in  his  own 
estimation,  and  leaves  no  bitter  reflections  for  the  future.  To  sub- 
serve the  cause  of  right,  is  always  a  duty  —  not  so  the  cause  of  party 
or  selfish  interest.  All  men  respect  the  right,  but  many  have  not 
the  virtue  to  resist  wrong.  Ambition  prompts  for  success  the  expe- 
dient :  and  hence  the  laxity  of  political  morals.  This  is  slipping  the 
cable  that  the  ship  may  swing  from  her  anchorage  and  drift  with  the 
tide ;  any  minnow  may  float  with  the  current,  but  it  requires  a  strong 
lish  to  stem  and  progress  against  the  stream.  A  man,  to  brav^ 


184  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

obloquy  and  public  scorn,  requires  strong  moral  courage  ;  but  when 
his  judgment  convinces  him  that  he  is  right,  and  when  he  feels  that 
his  intentions  are  pure,  conscientious,  and  sincere,  this  may  ruffle 
him  for  a  time,  but  never  permanently  disturbs  his  peace  or  injures 
his  reputation.  The  truly  great  are  only  known  by  nobly  resisting 
every  temptation  to  wrong,  and  braving  the  world's  condemnation 
in  pursuing  and  sustaining  the  right.  It  is  the  soul  to  which  greatness 
belongs,  not  the  mind.  This  latter  is  too  often,  in  its  transcendent 
greatness,  coupled  with  a  mean  and  degraded  soul,  which  stimulates 
the  mind's  power  to  the  corruption  of  the  masses,  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  public  morals,  undermining  the  very  basis  of  society  and 
government. 

The  combination  of  a  great  mind  and  a  great  soul  constitutes  the 
truly  great,  and  the  life  of  such  a  man  creates  a  public  sentiment 
which,  like  an  intense  essence,  permeates  all  it  touches,  leaving  its 
fragrance  upon  all.  Such  a  man  was  George  M.  Troup,  such  a  man 
is  Charles  J.  Jenkins ;  and  the  incense  of  his  character  will  be  a 
fragrance  purifying  and  delighting  the  land  when  he  shall  have  passed 
away.  The  exalted  abilities  of  his  mind,  the  great  purity  of  his 
heart,  the  noble  elevation  of  his  sentiments,  and  his  exquisite  con- 
scientiousness, will  be  an  honor  and  an  example  to  be  remembered 
and  emulated  by  the  coming  generations  of  his  native  land. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
A    REVOLUTIONARY    VETERAN. 

TAPPING  REEVE  — JAMES  GOULD  — COLONEL  BENJAMIN  TALMAGE— THE  EXE- 
CUTION OF  MAJOR  ANDRE  — CHARACTER  OF  WASHINGTON  — A  BREACH  OF 
DISCIPLINE  —  BURR  AND  HAMILTON  —  MARGARET  MONCRIEF  —  COWLES 

MEADE. 

FIFTY  years  ago,  the  only  law-school  in  the  United  States  was 
taught  by  Tapping  Reeve  and  James  Gould,  at  Litchfield,  Con- 
necticut.   The  young  men  of  the  South,  destined  for  the  profession  of 
law,  usually  commenced  their  studies  in  the  office  of  some  eminent 
practitioner  at  home,  and,  after  a  year  or  so  spent  in  reading  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  185 

elementary  authors,  they  finished  by  attending  the  lectures  at  this 
school.  A  course  of  lectures  occupied  a  year.  Then  they  were 
considered  prepared  to  commence  the  practice. 

Many  of  the  young  men  of  Georgia,  at  that  day,  received  their 
education  at  the  North.  Most  of  those  who  selected  law  as  a  pro- 
fession, finished  at  the  school  in  Litchfield.  Few  remain  in  life  at 
this  day  who  graduated  there.  Thomas  Flornoy  and  Nicholas 
Ware  were  among  the  first,  who  read  law  there,  who  were  natives  of 
Georgia.  William  Gumming  succeeded  them.  Then  followed  L. 
Q.  C.  Lamar,  William  C.  Dawson,  Thaddeus  Goode  Holt,  and 
many  others  of  less  distinction,  all  of  whom  are  gone  save  Judge 
Holt,  who  remains  a  monument  and  a  memory  of  the  class  and 
character  of  the  Bar  of  Georgia  fifty  years  ago,  when  talent  and 
unspotted  integrity  characterized  its  members  universally,  and  when 
the  private  lives  and  public  conduct  of  lawyers  were  a  withering 
rebuke  to  the  reiterated  slanders  upon  the  profession  —  when  Craw- 
ford, Berrien,  Harris,  Cobb,  Longstreet,  the  brothers  Campbell, 
and  a  host  of  others,  shed  lustre  upon  it. 

1820  was  spent  by  the  writer  at  the  law-school  at  Litchfield,  in 
company  with  William  Crawford  Banks,  Hopkins  Holsey,  Samuel 
W.  Oliver,  and  James  Clark,  from  Georgia.  All  are  in  the  grave 
except  Clark,  who,  like  the  writer,  lives  in  withered  age.  His 
career  has  been  a  successful  and  honorable  one,  and  I  trust  a 
happy  one. 

During  this  probation  it  was  my  fortune  to  form  many  acquaint- 
ances among  the  young  and  the  old  whom  I  met  there,  and  from 
them  to  learn  much,  especially  from  the  old.  At  that  time  there 
resided  in  the  pleasant  little  village,  Governor  Oliver  Wolcott,  Ben- 
jamin Talmage,  and  my  distinguished  preceptors,  Tapping  Reeve 
and  James  Gould. 

Colonel  Benjamin  Talmage  was  a  distinguished  officer  in  the 
American  army  of  the  Revolution,  and  was  a  favorite  aide  of  Wash- 
ington. It  was  he  who  was  charged  with  the  painful  duty  of  super- 
intending the  execution  of  Major  Andre,  who  suffered  as  a  spy.  He 
was  a  tall,  venerable  man,  and  though  cumbered  with  years,  when  I 
knew  him,  was  active  and  energetic  in  attending  to  his  business. 
The  first  time  I  ever  met  him,  he  was  standing  in  front  of  his  yard- 
gate,  shaping  a  gate-pin  with  a  small  hatchet,  which  he  used  as  a 
knife,  to  reduce  it  to  the  desired  size  and  form.  One  end  he  held  in 
16* 


1 86  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

his  left  hand ;  the  other  he  rested  against  the  trunk  of  a  sycamore- 
tree,  which  grew  near  by  and  shaded  the  sidewalk.  I  knew  his 
character  and  his  services.  As  I  approached  him,  my  feelings  were 
sublimated  with  the  presence  of  a  man  who  had  been  the  aide  to 
and  confidant  of  George  Washington.  He  was  neatly  attired  in 
gray  small-clothes.  His  white  hair  was  carefully  combed  over  the 
bald  portion  of  his  head,  as,  hatless,  he  pursued  his  work.  His 
position  was  fronting  me,  and  I  caught  his  brilliant  gray  eyes  as  he 
looked  up  from  his  work  to  know  who  was  passing.  Involuntarily 
I  stopped,  and,  lifting  my  hat  from  my  head,  bowed  respectfully  to 
him,  and  passed  him  uncovered,  as  he  returned  my  salutation  with 
that  ease  and  dignity  characteristic  of  the  gentleman  of  the  old 
school.  To-day  that  towering,  manly  form  is  present  to  my  view, 
as  it  stood  before  me  then.  He  inquired  of  Judge  Gould,  his  imme- 
diate neighbor,  who  I  was,  and  was  pleased  to  mention  my  respectful 
demeanor  toward  him.  My  reply,  when  told  of  this,  was :  "  I  should 
have  despised  myself,  could  I  have  acted  otherwise  toward  one  so 
eminent,  and  who  was  the  confidential  friend  of  Washington."  This 
was  reported  to  the  venerable  colonel,  who  showed  his  appreciation 
of  my  conduct  by  extending  to  me  many  kindnesses  during  my  stay 
in  the  village. 

By  his  own  hearth-stone  I  have  listened  with  eager  interest  to  the 
narration  of  Andre's  capture  and  execution.  He  was  opposed,  with 
Alexander  Hamilton,  to  the  hanging  of  Andre,  and  always  con- 
tended that  it  was  not  clearly  established  that  he  had  come  into  the 
American  lines  as  a  spy.  Andre,  when  captured,  wore  his  uni- 
form under  an  overcoat,  which  concealed  it,  and  the  papers  found 
on  his  person  only  proved  that  he  sought  to  deliver  them  to  Arnold. 
The  day  before  his  execution  he  solemnly  declared  his  only  object 
was  an  interview  with  Arnold,  or,  should  he  fail  in  this,  to  contrive 
to  send  him  the  papers  which  had  been  found  upon  him.  When  he 
knew  the  commander-in-chief  had  refused  him  clemency,  through 
Colonel  Talmage  he  appealed  to  Washington  to  let  him  be  shot, 
and  die  a  soldier's  death  —  not  to  permit  him  to  perish  as  a  felon 
upon  the  gallows.  Colonel  Talmage,  when  he  stated  this  wish  to 
him,  assured  him  it  would  be  granted.  Every  effort  was  made,  by 
his  officers  and  aides,  to  induce  the  granting  of  the  request,  but  in 
vain.  "  And  never  in  my  life,"  said  Colonel  Talmage,  "  have  I  had 
imposed  upon  me  so  painful  a  duty  as  communicating  this  fact  to  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  187 

young  and  gallant  officer.  He  saw  my  embarrassment  and  feelings, 
and,  rising  from  his  seat,  said  :  '  Colonel,  I  thank  you  for  the  generous 
interest  you  have  taken  in  my  case.  It  has  proved  of  no  avail ;  yet  I 
am  none  the  less  grateful. '  He  paused  a  moment,  when  he  continued : 
'  It  is  hard  to  die,  and  to  die  thus.  My  time  is  short,  and  I  must 
employ  it  in  writing  to  my  family,  and  must  request  that  you  will 
see  my  letters  forwarded  to  headquarters. '  I  promised ;  when  he 
extended  his  hand,  and,  grasping  mine,  asked :  '  Is  this  our  last 
parting,  or  shall  I  see  you  to-morrow  ? '  I  told  him  it  had  been 
made  my  duty  to  superintend  his  execution.  '  We  will  part  at  the 
grave,'  he  said,  and,  covering  his  face  with  his  hands,  sank,  sob- 
bing, into  his  chair. 

"I  went  away  sorrowing,  and  spent  a  sleepless  night.  When  the 
hour  had  arrived,  I  waited  on  him  in  his  prison,  and  found  him  cool 
and  prepared  for  the  sacrifice.  We  both  felt  too  much  for  words, 
and  there  was  little  said.  I  remember  he  asked  me  to  procure  his 
watch,  which  had  been  taken  from  him,  if  possible,  and  send  it  to 
headquarters.  He  desired  his  family  to  have  it." 

"  Did  you  ever  get  it  ?  "  I  asked. 

The  colonel  bit  his  lip  in  shame  for  him  who  had  it,  and  only 
answered:  "Never." 

"The  grave  was  prepared  near  the  gallows,  and  the  open  coffin 
was  by  it.  As  Andre  approached,  he  saw  it,  and  a  shudder  ran 
through  his  frame.  Turning  to  me,  he  said :  '  I  am  to  be  buried 
there.  One  more  request,  colonel.  Mark  it;  so  that  when  this 
cruel  conflict  shall  have  ended,  my  friends  may  find  it ! '  He  then 
shook  hands  with  me,  and,  with  unfaltering  steps,  went  to  the 
scaffold. ' ' 

I  heard  this  narrative  many  times,  and  with  its  ending  the  white 
kerchief  about  the  old  man's  neck  was  loosed,  and  the  moisture  from 
his  eyes  told  that  the  feelings  as  well  as  the  memory  of  that  day 
still  survived.  He  would  a  moment  after  continue:  "Washington 
was  a  stern  man  —  he  was  a  hard  man  —  slow  to  form  opinions  or 
resolutions ;  but  once  formed,  there  was  no  power  under  heaven  to 
move  him.  He  never  formed  either  until  his  judgment  was  convinced 
of  the  right.  There  was  less  of  impulse  in  his  nature  than  in  that  of 
any  man  I  ever  knew.  I  served  by  his  side  for  years,  and  I  never 
saw  the  least  manifestation  of  passion  or  surprise.  He  received  the 
information  of  Arnold's  treachery  with  the  same  apparent  indiffer- 


l88  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

ence  that  he  would  an  orderly's  report ;  and  with  the  same  indiffer- 
ence of  manner  signed  the  death-warrant  of  Andre. 

"  This  indifference  was  marked  with  a  natural  sternness,  which 
forbid  all  familiarity  to  all  men.  Even  Colonel  Hamilton,  who  was 
naturally  facetious,  never  ventured,  during  his  long  service,  the 
slightest  intimacy.  Hamilton,  whom  he  esteemed  above  all  men, 
and  to  whom  he  gave  his  entire  confidence,  always  observed  in  his 
private  intercourse,  as  in  his  public,  the  strictest  etiquette.  This 
cool  sternness  was  natural  to  him,  and  its  influence  was  overwhelm- 
ing. The  humblest  and  the  highest  felt  it  alike  ;  inspiring  a  respect- 
ful awe,  commanding  a  dignified  demeanor.  He  was  best  beloved 
at  a  distance,  because  the  qualities  of  the  man  were  only  present, 
and  these  were  purer  and  more  lofty  than  those  given  to  any  other 
man.  There  is  no  character  of  ancient  or  modern  times  so  con- 
sistent as  that  of  Washington.  He  was  always  cool,  always  slow, 
always  sincere.  There  is  no  act  of  his  life  evincing  the  influence  of 
prejudice.  He  decided  all  matters  upon  evidence,  and  the  unbiassed 
character  of  his  mind  enabled  him  impartially  to  weigh  this  evidence, 
and  the  great  strength  of  his  judgment  to  analyze  and  apply  it. 
He  seemed  to  understand  men  instinctively,  and  if  he  was  ever 
deceived  in  any  of  those  in  close  association  with  him,  it  was  Tom 
Jefferson.  Burr  had  not  been  on  his  staff  ten  days  before  he  under- 
stood him  perfectly,  and  he  very  soon  got  rid  of  him.  Of  all  the 
officers  of  the  Continental  army,  General  Greene  was  his  favorite ; 
and  he  was  right,  for  Greene  was  a  great  military  man  —  far  superior 
to  Washington  himself,  and  none  knew  it  better  than  he.  I  remem- 
ber to  have  heard  him  say  that  Greene  was  the  only  man  in  the 
army  who  could  retrieve  the  mistakes  of  Gates  and  save  the  Southern 
country.  The  result  verified  the  statement. 

"  Washington's  lenity  never  extended  to  the  excusing  of  any  pal- 
pable neglect  of  duty.  The  strict  regularity  of  his  own  private 
character  was  carried  into  everything  connected  with  his  public 
duties.  However  much  he  esteemed  any  man,  it  was  for  his  worth  in 
his  especial  position,  and  not  because  of  any  peculiarity  of  bearing 
or  properties  of  heart.  That  he  appreciated  the  higher  qualities  of 
the  heart,  is  certainly  true  —but  for  what  they  were  worth  always  — 
and  neither  quality  of  head  or  heart  created  a  prejudice  which  would 
lead  him  to  excuse  any  neglect  of  duty  or  laxity  of  morals.  He  was 
not  without  heart,  but  it  was  slow  to  be  moved,  and  never  so  moved 


FIFTY     YEARS.  189 

as  to  warp  or  obscure  his  judgment,  or  influence  the  discharge  of 
his  duty. 

"  Mrs.  Washington  was  less  amiable  than  her  husband,  and  at 
times  would  sadly  tax  his  patience — she  never  forgot  that  she  was 
wealthy  when  she  married  him,  and  would  sometimes  allude  to  it  in 
no  very  pleasant  manner  to  her  husband ;  who,  notwithstanding, 
bore  with  her  with  remarkable  patience.  I  do  not  remember  ever 
to  have  seen  General  Washington  laugh ;  sometimes  a  faint  smile 
would  tinge  his  features ;  but  very  soon  they  returned  to  the  sedate- 
ness  and  gravity  of  expression  common  to  them ;  and  though  they 
rarely  brightened  with  a  smile,  they  were  never  deformed  with  a 
frown.  There  was  in  their  expression  a  fixity  indicative  of  his 
character,  a  purpose  settled  and  unalterable.  Of  all  the  men  I 
have  ever  known,  Washington  was  the  only  one  who  never  descended 
from  the  stilts  of  his  dignity,  or  relaxed  the  austerity  of  his  bearing. 
Jt  has  been  said  that  he  swore  at  General  Charles  Lee  at  the  battle 
of  Brandywine  —  I  could  never  have  it  authenticated.  He  asked 
excitedly  of  General  Lee,  by  what  ill-timed  mistake  the  disaster 
had  occurred,  which  was  forcing  his  retreat.  Lee  was  a  passionate, 
bad  man,  and  disliked  to  serve  under  Washington's  command.  He 
had  served  with  distinction  in  the  British  army  in  Europe,  and  felt,  in 
adopting  the  cause  of  the  colonies,  he  should  have  been  proffered 
the  chief  command.  There  had  been  an  intrigue  at  Philadelphia, 
headed  by  Dr.  Rush,  aided  by  others,  to  prejudice  Congress  against 
the  commander-in-chief,  to  have  him  displaced,  that  Lee  might  suc- 
ceed him.  If  Washington  was  aware  of  this,  it  never  escaped  him 
to  any  of  his  military  family;  and  certainly  never  influenced  his 
conduct  toward  Lee  —  for  he  had  confidence  in  his  military  abilities, 
and  always  gave  him  the  position  where  the  most  honor  was  to  be 
won.  Lee's  reply  to  Washington  was  violent,  profane,  and  insolent. 
He  said  to  General  Lafayette  that  his  reply  was :  '  No  man  can  boast 
of  possessing  more  of  that  damned  rascally  virtue  than  yourself.' 
He  was  arrested,  court-martialed,  and  by  its  decision,  suspended  for 
one  year  from  command.  He  never  returned  to  the  service,  but 
retired  to  the  interior  of  Virginia,  and  lived  in  great  seclusion  until 
his  death. 

"Toward  the  young  officers  Washington  was  more  indulgent  than 
to  the  older  and  more  experienced.  He  would  not  see  the  smaller 
improprieties  of  conduct  in  these,  unless  brought  officially  to  his 


1 90  THE    MEMORIES    OF 

notice.  Then  they  were  uniformly  punished.  He  frequently  coun- 
selled and  advised  them,  but  was  ever  severe  toward  intemperance, 
with  old  and  young. 

"  Upon  one  occasion,  a  certain  Maryland  colonel  came  suddenly 
and  quite  unexpectedly  upon  the  General,  who  was  taking  a  walk. 
The  colonel  attempted  to  salute,  but  in  doing  so,  disclosed  his  ine- 
briety. 'You  are  intoxicated,  sir,'  said  the  General,  with  a  humor- 
ous twinkle  of  the  eye.  The  colonel  replied :  '  I  am  glad  you 
informed  me,  General ;  I  will  go  to  my  quarters  before  I  make  an 
ass  of  myself;'  turned  and  walked  away.  Without  the  slightest 
movement  of  feature  the  General  continued  his  walk.  Nothing  more 
was  heard  of  it  until  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  in  which  the  colonel 
distinguished  himself.  The  day  after,  in  going  the  grand-rounds,  he 
approached  the  colonel,  and  remarked :  '  Your  gallantry  of  yesterday 
excuses  your  late  breach  of  discipline; '  and  saluting  him,  passed  on. 

"In  a  conversation  over  the  mess-table,  at  West  Point,  some 
severe  remarks  upon  the  conduct  of  Washington,  in  hanging  Andre, 
escaped  Hamilton.  He  said,  warmly,  that  it  was  cruelly  unjust,  and 
would  assuredly  sully  the  future  fame  of  the  General ;  that  he  felt 
aggrieved  that  the  ardent  solicitations  of  his  staff,  and  most  of  the 
field-officers,  in  the  unfortunate  young  man's  behalf,  had  been  so 
little  regarded.  These  remarks  reached  the  ears  of  the  General. 
We  were  not  aware  of  this,  until  some  weeks  subsequently  he  sum- 
moned his  staff  to  his  presence,  and  stated  the  fact. 

"  '  You  will  remember,  gentlemen,  that  Captain  Asgill,  who  was  a 
prisoner,  and  sentenced,  by  lot,  to  die,  in  retaliation  for  the  cold- 
blooded murder  of  Captain  Huddy,  by  the  orders  of  a  British  officer. 
You,  and  many  of  the  officers  of  the  army,  interceded  to  save  his  life. 
His  execution  was,  in  consequence,  respited.  The  heart-rending 
appeal  of  his  mother  and  sisters,  communicated  to  me  in  letters  from 
those  high-bred  and  accomplished  women,  determined  me  to  lenity 
in  his  case,  and  he  was  pardoned.  Immediately  upon  the  heels  of 
this  pardon  comes  an  intrigue  to  seduce  from  his  duty  and  alle- 
giance a  major-general,  distinguished  for  services  and  capacity ;  and 
Major  Andre  is  the  instrument  to  carry  out  this  intrigue  —  to  com- 
municate their  plans  to  the  traitor,  and  to  consummate  the  arrange- 
ment. These  plans  were  to  seize,  treacherously,  the  person  of  the 
general  commanding  the  American  forces,  and  carry  him  a  prisoner 
to  the  enemy's  headquarters.  Lenity  to  this  man  would  have  been 


FIFTY  YEARS.  19! 

a  high  crime  against  Congress,  the  army,  and  the  country,  which 
could  not  have  been  justified.  I  regretted  the  necessity  as  much  as 
any  of  you ;  but  mine  was  the  responsibility,  not  yours.  Its  being  a 
painful  duty  did  not  make  it  less  a  duty.  Not  mine  alone,  but  the 
safety  of  the  army  depended  upon  the  discharge  of  this  duty  —  a 
duty  recognized  by  all  nations  in  civilized  warfare.  I  felt  it  such ; 
I  discharged  it,  and  am  satisfied  with  it.  I  hope  I  am  superior  to 
any  apprehension  of  future  censure  for  a  faithful  discharge  of  an 
imperative  duty.'  Waving  his  hand,  he  bade  us  '  Good  evening.' 

"  General  Washington,  upon  all  important  movements,  sought  the 
opinions  of  his  staff,  as  well  as  those  of  the  general  officers  of  his 
command.  This  was  not  for  want  of  reliance  upon  his  own  judg- 
ment, but  from  a  desire  to  see  the  matter  through  every  light  in 
which  it  could  be  presented.  These  opinions  were  not  unfrequently 
asked  in  writing.  They  were  always  carefully  studied,  and  due 
weight  given  to  them,  especially  when  they  differed  from  his  own. 
His  mind  was  eminently  analytical,  and  always  free  from  prejudice, 
and  to  these  facts  is  to  be  attributed  the  almost  universal  correctness 
of  his  judgment  upon  all  subjects  which  he  had  examined.  With 
regard  to  men,  I  never  knew  him  to  ask  another's  opinion ;  nor  was 
he  ever  the  man  to  give  utterance  to  his  own,  unless  it  became  neces- 
sary as  a  duty.  I  knew,  from  the  time  I  entered  his  military  family, 
of  his  high  appreciation  of  Hamilton's  abilities ;  and  the  frequent  con- 
currence of  opinion  between  them  sometimes  (and  especially  with 
those  not  entirely  acquainted  with  him)  induced  a  belief  that  Hamil- 
ton formed  his  opinions,  or,  as  Arnold  once  expressed  it,  was  his 
thinker.  Yet  there  were  many  occasions  upon  which  they  differed, 
and  widely  differed  ;  and  never  did  Washington  surrender  his  own 
opinion  and  adopt  that  of  Hamilton.  I  never  thought  the  feelings 
of  Washington  toward  him  were  more  than  respect  for  his  exalted 
abilities.  I  do  not  believe  a  kinder  or  more  social  attachment  ever 
was  felt  by  him,  and  I  am  positively  sure  these  were  the  feelings  of 
Hamilton  for  Washington. 

"  His  respect  for  the  abilities  of  Colonel  Burr  was  quite  as  exalted 
as  for  those  of  Hamilton ;  but  he  had  no  confidence  in  his  honesty 
or  truth,  and,  consequently,  very  soon  got  rid  of  him.  Burr's  liaison 
with  Margaret  Moncrief  destroyed  entirely  the  little  regard  left  for 
him  in  the  mind  of  Washington.  I  asked  Colonel  Talmage  if  Burr 
and  Hamilton  ever  were  friends.  They  were  very  close  friends 


192 


THE     MEMORIES     OF 


apparently ;  but  it  was  palpable  that  each  entertained  a  jealousy  of 
the  other,  however  much  they  strove  to  conceal  it.  They  were  both 
ambitious,  and  felt  the  way  to  preferment  was  through  the  favor  of 
the  commander-in-chief.  Burr  was  the  more  sensitive  and  the  more 
impulsive  of  the  two.  They  knew  the  abilities  of  each  other,  and 
they  knew  these  were  highly  appreciated  by  the  General ;  and  at  the 
moment  when  this  jealousy  was  likely  to  interfere  with  this  friend- 
ship, Burr  left  the  position  of  aide  to  the  General.  He  knew  he  had 
forfeited  the  confidence  of  Washington,  and  he  figured  in  the  army 
very  little  after  this.  The  rivalry,  however,  did  not  cease  here,  nor 
did  the  secret  enmity  in  their  hearts  die.  The  world  is  not  aware 
of  the  true  cause  of  the  hatred  between  them,  and  it  may  never  be. 

"You  are  aware,"  continued  the  colonel,  "that  your  preceptor, 
Judge  Reeve,  is  the  brother-in-law  of  Colonel  Burr.  If  I  speak 
freely  of  him,  it  is  because  I  know  him,  and  because  you  seem 
curious  to  pry  into  these  secret  histories  of  national  men.  It  is  not 
to  be  repeated  to  offend  Judge  Reeve,  or  disturb  our  relations  as 
friends ;  for  we  are  such,  and  have  been  for  fifty  years. 

"Colonel  Burr  has  ever  been  remarkable  for  abilities  from  his 
boyhood.  Reeve  and  the  celebrated  Samuel  Lathrop  Mitchell  were 
his  classmates,  and  agree  that  he  had  no  equal  in  college.  They 
were  educated  at  Princeton.  Burr  showed  not  only  talent,  but 
application,  and  a  most  burning  ambition.  He  showed,  too,  that 
he  was  already  unscrupulous  in  the  use  of  means  to  accomplish  his 
object.  There  are  stories  told  of  his  college-life  very  discreditable 
to  his  fame.  He  was  as  remarkable  in  his  features  as  in  his  mind. 
His  capacious  forehead,  aquiline  nose,  and  piercingly  brilliant  eyes, 
black  as  night,  with  a  large,  flexible  mouth,  Grecian  in  form, 
made  him  extremely  handsome  as  a  youth.  His  manners  were 
natural  and  elegant,  and  his  conversational  powers  unequalled. 
They  are  so  to-day.  Think  of  these  gifts  in  a  man  uninfluenced  by 
principle,  and  only  obedient  to  the  warmer  passions.  He  ever 
shunned  collective  society,  and  seemed  (for  the  time,  at  least) 
totally  absorbed  by  one  or  two  only.  The  eloquence  of  manner, 
as  the  persuasion  of  words,  was  in  him  transcendent.  The  whis- 
pered sophisms  of  his  genius  burned  into  the  heart,  and  it  was 
remarked  of  him,  by  one  wise  and  discreet,  that  he  could,  in  fewer 
words,  win  the  sympathy  and  start  to  tears  a  female  auditor,  than 
any  preacher  in  the  land.  From  boyhood  he  seemed  to  have  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  193 

key  to  every  heart  he  desired  to  unlock.  Fatal  gift !  and  terribly 
fatal  did  it  prove  to  many  a  victim,  and  especially  to  that  gifted  but 
frail  girl  —  Margaret  Moncrief. 

"  Margaret  Moncrief  was  the  daughter  of  an  officer  of  the  British 
army,  and  had  been  left  with  that  old  veteran,  Putnam,  after  this  officer 
was  a  prisoner  of  war.  Hamilton  formed  an  attachment  for  her, 
and  Burr,  more  from  vanity  than  any  other  feeling,  determined  to 
win  her  away  from  him.  She  was,  for  her  §ex,  as  remarkable  as 
Burr  for  his  ;  her  education  was  very  superior,  her  reading  as  exten- 
sive as  most  professional  men,  and  entirely  out  of  the  line  of  ordi- 
nary female  reading;  she  was  familiar  with  the  entire  range  of 
science  —  her  person  in  form  was  perfect,  in  features  exquisitely 
beautiful.  She,  too,  possessed  the  art  to  steal  away  the  affections  of 
any  one  around  whom  she  threw  her  spell.  Apparently  unconscious 
of  her  natural  gifts,  she  displayed  them  without  reserve,  and  so  art- 
lessly, as  to  lure  and  beguile  almost  to  frenzy  such  temperaments 
as  those  of  Burr  and  Hamilton.  Never  before  had  Burr  met  his 
equal,  and  his  vanity  and  ambition  were  equally  stimulated  to 
triumph  in  her  conquest,  and  ere  he  was  aware  of  it,  what  had  been 
commenced  in  levity,  had  become  a  passion  which  held  him  in 
chains.  The  sequel  was  the  ruin  of  both.  Here  commenced  the 
heart-hatred  which  terminated  in  the  duel  and  the  death  of  Hamilton. 

"  I  know  there  was  a  romantic  story,  that  gained  credit  with  many, 
that  the  influence  of  Miss  Moncrief  had  corrupted  Burr,  and  that 
she  was  acting  as  a  spy,  and  from  Burr  obtained  all  the  informa- 
tion she  desired  of  the  movements  of  the  American  army.  Such 
was  the  credit  attached  to  this  story,  that  General  Putnam  was  ques- 
tioned rather  closely  on  the  subject  of  the  intercourse  between  them. 
It  was  his  opinion  that  it  was  without  foundation,  and  that  it  was 
simply  a  love  affair.  It  was  also  stated,  and  this  Hamilton  credited, 
that  Burr  was  preparing  to  leave  the  country  with  the  lady,  and  there 
were  some  circumstances  which  seemed  to  warrant  such  suspicion. 
To  this  day,  there  are  ladies  who  were  at  that  time  in  communica- 
tion with  Miss  Moncrief,  who  mention  that  every  preparation  had 
been  made,  that  her  wardrobe  had  been  removed  from  her  apart- 
ment, and  that  it  was  carried  to  those  of  Colonel  Burr,  and  that  they 
had  been  turned  back  in  the  harbor  by  a  sentry-boat,  when  striving 
with  a  solitary  oarsman  to  reach  a  British  man-of-war,  in  the  lower 
harbor  of  the  bay  of  New  York.  There  was  never  any  proof  of 
17  N 


IC)4  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

this,  however,  and  I  imagine  it  was  only  a  gossiping  story  of  Madame 
Rumor. 

"Of  the  sincerity  of  the  attachment  on  the  part  of  the  lady,  her 
subsequent  confessions  are  the  only  proof;  and  at  the  time  of  making 
these  confessions,  such  was  her  position  that  little  credit  could  be 
given  them.  But  that  Colonel  Burr  was  ever  seriously  attached  to 
her,  those  who  knew  him  best  scarcely  believed.  Men  of  his  char- 
acter rarely,  if  ever,  have  serious  and  sincere  attachment  for  any 
woman.  To  gratify  his  vanity  he  would  court  the  affections  of  any 
woman  whose  beauty  and  accomplishments  had  attracted  him.  It 
was  always  for  base  purposes  Burr  professed  love.  Such  men  too 
frequently  win  upon  the  regards  of  women,  and  occupy  high  and 
enviable  positions  in  female  society ;  but  their  love  is  diffusive,  and 
for  the  individual  only  for  a  time.  In  truth,  they  are  incapable 
of  a  deep  and  sincere  affection.  The  suspicion  of  woman's  purity 
forbids  an  abiding  love;  it  is  a  momentary  passion,  and  not  an 
elevated  and  enduring  sentiment  —  not  the  embalming  with  the 
heart's  riches  a  pure  and  innocent  being  who  yields  everything  to 
love. 

"  Colonel  Burr  was  an  indifferent  husband  toward  one  of  the  most 
accomplished  and  lovable  women  I  ever  knew,  and  who  was  devoted 
to  him,  and  whose  heart  he  broke.  She  was  the  widow  of  a  British 
officer  named  Provost,  I  believe,  who  died  in  the  West  Indies ;  and 
a  more  deserving  woman,  or  one  more  lovely,  never  went  to  the 
arms  of  a  rout,  to  be  kissed  and  killed. 

"  Burr  hated  Washington,  and  united  himself  politically  with  his 
enemies.  There  was  a  close  political  intimacy  between  him  and 
Jefferson,  but  never  anything  like  confidence.  In  their  party  they 
were  rivals ;  and  after  the  election  which  made  Jefferson  President, 
there  was  no  semblance  of  intimacy  or  friendship  between  them. 

"Burr  believed  he  was  really  elected  President,  and  that  Jefferson 
had  defrauded  him  in  the  count  of  the  ballots.  He  was  disappointed 
and  dissatisfied  with  his  position  and  with  his  party,  and  immediately 
commenced  an  intrigue  to  separate  the  Western  States  from  the 
Union,  and  on  the  west  of  the  mountains  and  along  the  waters  of 
the  Mississippi  to  establish  a  separate  government,  where  he  hoped 
to  fill  the  measure  of  his  ambition,  and  destroy  the  power  of  the 
Union — thus  at  the  same  time  to  crush  both  the  Federal  and  Repub- 
lican parties,  for  now  he  hated  both  alike. 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


195 


"  Hamilton  had  been  his  early  rival ;  he  had,  as  he  believed, 
destroyed  him  with  Washington,  and  that  he  had  been  mainly 
instrumental  in  defeating  him  with  Jefferson  for  the  Presidency. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  fact,  that  Jefferson  had  been  voted  for 
by  the  colleges  for  President,  and  Burr  for  Vice-President ;  but  they 
were  not  so  designated  on  the  ballots.  They  received  an  equal 
number  of  votes,  and  had  to  be  elected,  owing  to  a  defect  in  the 
law  at  that  time,  by  the  House.  The  balloting  continued  several 
days.  There  were  sixteen  States,  and  each  received  eight.  Jeffer- 
son was  especially  obnoxious  to  the  hatred  of  the  Federal  party  ; 
Burr,  though  belonging  to  the  Republican  party,  less  so ;  and  many 
of  the  leading  men  in  Congress  of  the  Federal  party  determined  to 
take  Burr  in  preference.  The  strength  of  this  party  was  mainly  in 
the  North,  and  Burr  was  a  Northern  man ;  and  they  felt  more 
might  be  expected  of  him,  from  Northern  interest,  than  from  Jeffer- 
son. But  the  main  cause  of  the  effort  was  the  animosity  to  Jefferson. 
Washington  was  viewed  as  the  representative  man  of  the  Federal 
party.  Jefferson,  though  he  had  been  a  Cabinet  minister  in  his 
Administration,  had  made  no  secret  of  his  opposition  to  the  views  of 
Washington ;  and  had  aided  a  clerk  in  his  department  to  establish  a 
newspaper,  especially  to  attack  Washington,  and  to  oppose  the 
Administration,  which  he  did,  in  the  most  bitter  and  offensive  manner. 

"Jefferson  was  an  unscrupulous  man  —  a  man  of  wonderful  intel- 
lect and  vast  attainments,  but  entirely  unprincipled.  This  editor 
and  clerk  of  Jefferson's,  sent  daily  to  the  President  two  copies  of 
his  paper,  filled  with  the  vilest  abuse  of  him  personally,  and  of  his 
Administration.  Much  of  this  was,  doubtless,  written  by  Jefferson 
himself.  This  supposition  is  the  more  to  be  relied  on  from  the  fact 
that  Washington  remonstrated  with  Jefferson  upon  the  matter,  and 
requested  the  removal  of  the  offending  clerk,  which  was  refused  by 
Jefferson.  His  declining  to  remove  Jefferson  himself,  is  conclusive 
of  the  considerate  forbearance  of  this  truly  great  man.  These  were 
reasons  operating  upon  the  minds  and  feelings  of  those  men  who  had 
not  only  sustained  Washington  through  the  Revolution,  but  had  stood 
to  the  support  of  his  Administration,  and  who  concurred  with  him 
in  political  opinion  and  principle. 

"  Mr.  Adams  had  made  this  party  unpopular  by  the  course  pur- 
sued by  him  in  conducting  the  Government.  The  Alien  Law,  and 
the  Sedition  Law,  which  obtained  his  signature,  (though  I  know  he 


I96  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

was  opposed  personally  to  both,)  and  the  prosecutions  which  arose, 
especially  under  the  latter,  were  very  offensive,  and  entirely  at  variance 
with  the  spirit  of  our  people,  and  indeed  of  the  age,  and  had  so  dam- 
aged the  Federal  party,  as  to  render  it  odious  to  a  large  majority  of 
the  people. 

"The  more  considerate  of  the  party  believed  in  the  election  of 
Burr  —  the  Southern  and  Northern  Democracy  would  become 
divided.  Jefferson  was  known  to  be  specially  the  favorite  of  this 
party,  South,  and  would  naturally  oppose,  himself,  and  lead  his 
party  in  opposition  to  the  Administration  of  Burr,  and  the  Fed- 
eral party,  uniting  in  his  support,  with  the  Republicans,  North, 
would  ultimately  succeed  in  recovering  the  control  of  the  Govern- 
ment. During  the  ballotings  this  was  fully  discussed  in  the  secret 
meetings  of  the  Federalists.  The  balloting  continued  from  the  nth 
to  the  i  yth  of  February,  and  only  eight  States  could  be  carried  for 
Mr.  Jefferson,  six  for  Burr,  and  two  were  divided.  It  was  supposed 
Hamilton's  influence  would  be  given  to  Burr,  and  he  was  sent  for, 
but  to  the  astonishment  of  his  political  friends,  it  was  thrown  in 
opposition  to  Burr.  This  influenced  those  controlling  the  vote  of  the 
divided  States.  Burr  had  entered  heartily  into  the  scheme  of  defeat- 
ing Jefferson.  Had  Hamilton  co-operated  with  his  party,  there  is 
now  no  telling  what  might  have  been  the  future  political  destiny  of 
the  country.  Burr  was  sworn  in  as  Vice-President,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  the  will  of  the  people  was  substantially  carried  out. 

"The  restlessness  of  Burr  was  manifested;  he  seemed  to  retire 
from  the  active  participation  in  politics  which  had  previously  been 
his  habit  —  still,  however,  adhering  to  the  Republican  party,  and 
opposing  strenuously  every  view  or  opinion  advanced  by  Hamilton. 
Burr  did  not  take  his  seat  as  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate,  and  in 
February,  after  the  election  of  Jefferson,  Hillhouse  was  chosen  to  fill 
his  place  pro  tern.  After  the  inauguration  of  Jefferson,  Abraham 
Baldwin  was  elected  to  preside  as  President /ro  tern,  of  the  Senate. 
It  had  not  then  become  the  habit  of  the  Vice-President  to  preside 
over  the  Senate;  nor  was  it  the  custom  for  the  Vice-President  to 
remain  at  the  seat  of  Government  during  the  sessions  of  Congress. 
Burr,  disgusted  with  the  Republican  party,  ceased  to  act  with  it,  and 
went  to  New  York.  Here  he  resumed  the  practice  of  law.  He  was 
never  considered  a  deeply  read  lawyer,  nor  was  he  comparable  with 
his  rival,  Hamilton,  in  debate,  or  as  an  advocate  at  the  Bar.  He 


FIFTY     YEARS.  197 

was  adroit  and  quick,  and  was  rather  a  quibbler  than  a  great 
lawyer. 

"  You  ask  me  if  I  thought,  or  think,  he  ever  deserted  the  Repub- 
lican party  in  heart?  I  answer,  no  ;  for  I  do  not  think  he  ever  had 
any  well-defined  political  or  moral  principle,  and  was  influenced 
always  by  what  he  deemed  would  subserve  his  own  ambitious  views ; 
and  you  ask  me,  if  I  ever  thought  him  a  great  man  ?  Men  greatly 
differ,  as  you  will  find  as  you  grow  older,  and  become  better 
acquainted  with  mankind,  as  to  what  constitutes  a  great  man.  I 
think  Colonel  Burr's  talents  were  eminently  military,  and  he  might, 
in  command,  have  shown  himself  a  great  general.  His  mind  was 
sufficiently  strong  to  make  him  respectable  in  any  profession  he 
might  have  chosen;  but  his  proclivity,  mentally,  was  for  arms  — 
he  loved  to  direct  and  control.  In  very  eajly  life  he  showed 
much  skill  and  tact  as  an  officer  in  the  Canadian  campaign ;  but  he 
wanted  those  moral  traits  which  give  dignity  and  decision  to  char- 
acter, and  confidence  to  the  public  mind.  His  vacillation  of  opinion, 
as  well  as  of  conduct,  was  convincing  proof  that  he  acted  without 
principle,  and  was  influenced  by  his  own  selfish  views.  Man,  to  be 
great,  must  act  always  from  principle.  Principle,  like  truth,  is  a 
straight  edge,  will  admit  of  no  obliquity,  is  always  the  same,  and 
under  all  circumstances :  conduct  squared  by  principle,  and  sus- 
tained by  truth,  inspires  respect  and  confidence,  and  these  attributes, 
though  they  may  and  do  belong  to  very  ordinary  minds,  are  never- 
theless great  essentials  to  the  most  powerful  in  making  greatness. 
Great  grasp  of  intellect,  fixity  of  purpose,  strong  will,  high  aims,  and 
incorruptible  moral  purity,  make  a  great  man.  They  are  rare  com- 
binations, but  they  are  sometimes  found  in  one  man — they  certainly 
were  not  in  Colonel  Burr.  A  great  general,  a  great  statesman,  a 
great  poet,  a  great  astronomer,  may  be  without  morals ;  and  he  is 
consequently  not  a  great  man.  My  young  friend,  a  great  man  is  the 
rarest  creation  of  Almighty  God.  Time  has  produced  few.  Wash- 
ington, perhaps,  approaches  the  standard  nearest,  of  modern  men ; 
but  he  was  selfish  to  some  extent. 

"After  Colonel  Burr's  return  to  New  York,  he  was  nominated  by 
the  Federal  party  for  Governor  of  the  State  ;  this  was  the  first  open 
announcement  of  his  having  deserted  the  Republican  party.  Hamil- 
ton threw  all  his  influence  against  him,  and  he  was  defeated.  This 
defeat  sublimated  his  hatred  for  Hamilton.  He  made  an  excuse  of 
17* 


198  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

certain  words  Hamilton  had  used  in  relation  to  him  for  challenging 
him.  They  met,  and  Hamilton  fell.  The  death  of  Hamilton  over- 
threw the  little  remaining  popularity  left  to  Burr.  The  nation,  the 
world,  turned  upon  him,  and  he  became  desperate. 

"Burr's  term  as  Vice  -  President  terminated  on  the  fourth  of 
March,  1805.  The  odium  which  attached  to  his  name  found  universal 
utterance  after  the  duel.  It  was  not  simply  the  killing  of  Hamilton ; 
this  merely  gave  occasion  for  the  outburst  of  public  indignation. 
His  private  character  had  always  been  bad.  As  a  member  of  the 
Legislature,  he  had  so  conducted  himself  as  to  excite  general  sus- 
picion of  his  integrity.  His  desertion  of  the  party  elevating  him  to 
the  Vice-Presidency,  and  lending  himself  to  the  opposition  party  to 
defeat  the  clearly  expressed  views  of  his  own  party,  all  combined  to 
make  him  extremely  odious  to  the  populace. 

"In  the  canvass  for  the  Presidency,  he  had  been  mainly  instru- 
mental in  carrying  the  State  of  New  York  for  the  Republican  party. 
In  this  he  had  triumped  over  Hamilton ;  but  in  the  more  recent  con- 
test for  Governor  of  the  State,  he  found  that  the  Republican  party 
adhered  to  principle,  and  refused  to  be  controlled  by  him,  repudiat- 
ing his  every  advance ;  and  learned,  also,  that  the  Federal  party  would 
not  unite  in  accepting  him.  Defeated  on  every  side,  in  all  his  views, 
and  mainly  through  the  instrumentality  of  Hamilton,  he  determined, 
after  killing  his  rival,  if  possible,  to  destroy  the  Government. 

"There  was  nothing  unfair,  or  out  of  the  ordinary  method  of 
conducting  such  affairs,  in  this  duel.  Hamilton's  eldest  son,  but  a 
little  while  before,  had  been  slain,  in  a  duel,  on  the  very  spot  where 
his  father  fell,  and  the  event  created  little  or  no  excitement;  and 
when  Burr  saw  himself  met  with  universal  scorn,  he  knew  it  was  the 
eruption  of  an  accumulated  hatred  toward  himself,  and  that  all  his 
ambition  for  future  preferment  and  power  was  at  an  end.  Imme- 
diately he  left  for  the  West,  and  commenced  an  abortive  effort  to 
break  up  the  Union. 

"The  Allegheny  Mountains  opposed,  at  that  time,  an  obstacle  to 
free  communication  with  the  East.  The  States  west  were  politically 
weak,  and,  supposing  their  interests  were  neglected  by  Congress, 
were  restless  and  dissatisfied.  This  was  especially  true  of  Western 
Pennsylvania.  There  were  very  many  young  and  ambitious  men 
in  all  the  Western  States  and  Territories.  Tennessee,  Kentucky, 
and  Ohio  were  rapidly  populating  from  the  Eastern  and  Middle 


FIFTY     YEARS.  199 

States.  Their  commercial  communication  with  the  East  was  attended 
with  so  many  difficulties  as  to  force  it  almost  entirely  to  New  Orleans. 

"Geographically,  it  seemed  that  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  was, 
by  nature,  formed  for  one  nation.  The  soil  and  climate  promised 
to  enterprise  and  industry  untold  wealth.  The  territorial  dimen- 
sions were  fabulous.  The  restless  and  oppressed  multitudes  of  over- 
stocked Europe  had  already  commenced  an  emigration  to  the  United 
States,  which  promised  to  increase  to  such  an  amount  as  would  soon 
fill  up,  to  a  great  extent,  this  expanded  and  promising  region.  The 
Mississippi  furnished  an  outlet  to  the  ocean,  and  a  navigation,  unin- 
terrupted throughout  the  year,  for  thousands  of  miles,  and  New 
Orleans,  a  market  for  every  surplus  product.  Burr  saw  all  this,  and 
determined  to  effect  its  separation  from  the  Union,  and  there  to 
establish  a  new  empire,  which  should,  ere  long,  control  the  destinies 
of  the  continent.  It  was  the  conception  of  genius  and  daring,  but 
required  an  administrative  ability  which  he  had  not,  to  consummate 
this  conception.  He  miscalculated  his  material.  The  people  of  the 
West  were  vastly  more  intelligent  than  he  had  supposed  them. 
They  were  not  so  simple  as  to  receive  his  views,  and  blindly  adopt 
and  act  upon  them.  They  canvassed  them,  and  concluded  for  them- 
selves. At  Pittsburgh  he  found  a  number  of  adventurous  young  men 
(who  had  nothing  to  lose,  and  who  were  ripe  for  any  enterprise 
which  promised  fame  or  fortune,)  to  unite  with  him. 

"He  found  Henry  Clay  in  Kentucky,  and  Andrew  Jackson  in 
Tennessee,  young,  enterprising,  and  full  of  spirit  and  talent.  He 
supposed  them  to  be  the  men  he  sought,  and  approached  both, 
cautiously  revealing  his  views;  but,  to  his  astonishment,  the  griev- 
ances of  the  West  had  not  so  warped  their  patriotism  as  to  dispose 
them  to  engage  in  any  schemes  which  threatened  the  dismember- 
"ment  of  the  Union.  Clay  listened  and  temporized,  but  never,  for  a 
moment,  yielded  assent.  Jackson,  more  ardent,  and  a  military  man 
by  nature,  was  carried  away  with  the  idea  for  a  time.  He  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  people  of  the  West,  and  especially  with  the  popu- 
lation on  the  Lower  Mississippi,  and  was  the  man  who  recommended 
Burr  to  make  first  a  descent  upon  Mexico,  as  I  have  been  confiden- 
tially informed,  and  sincerely  believe.  I  have  also  been  informed 
that  he  dissuaded  Burr  from  any  attempt  to  excite  a  war  of  the  West 
with  the  East ;  but  first  to  make  Mexico  secure,  which  they  and  Wil- 
kinson believed  would  be  an  easy  matter.  It  was  when  Burr,  having 


200  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

abandoned  his  first  enterprise,  descended  the  Mississippi,  that  he 
was  arrested.  This  arrest  was  made  by  the  acting  Governor  of  Mis- 
sissippi, and  at  some  point  in  that  Territory,  where  Jackson  had  a 
store  or  trading  establishment.  He  was,  with  three  of  his  aides,  on 
his  way  to  meet  Wilkinson,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  matters. 
He  escaped,  and  finding  things  prepared  for  his  interception,  he 
made  his  way  across  the  country ;  but  was  finally  arrested,  on  the 
Tombigbee,  by  an  officer  of  the  United  States  army.  When  on  his 
trial  at  Richmond,  Jackson  went  there,  and  was  found  on  the  street 
haranguing  the  people  in  Burr's  favor,  and  denouncing  the  prosecu- 
tion and  the  President.  Subsequently,  however,  he  denounced  Burr, 
and  pretended  that  he  had  deceived  him.  Humphrey  Marshall, 
Pope,  Grundy,  and  Whitesides  united  with  Clay  in  condemning  the 
entire  scheme.  There  was  a  crazy  Irishman,  an  adventurer,  named 
Blannerhasset,  residing  on  the  Ohio,  who  at  once  entered  into  his 
views,  embarked  all  his  fortune  in  the  enterprise,  and,  with  Burr,  was 
ruined.  He  was  tried  for  treason,  and  acquitted.  Soon  after,  he  left 
the  country,  and  remained  away  for  many  years,  returning  to  find 
himself  a  stranger,  and  almost  forgotten." 

Some  months  subsequent  to  this  conversation,  Colonel  Burr  came 
up  from  New  York  to  visit  his  brother-in-law,  Judge  Reeve,  and  an 
opportunity  was  thus  afforded  me  to  see  and  converse  with  him ; 
but  no  allusion  was  made  to  the  past  of  his  own  life,  save  an  account 
of  some  suffering  he  underwent  in  the  Canadian  campaign?  with 
General  Montgomery.  He  had  contracted,  he  said,  a  rheumatism 
in  his  ankle,  during  the  winter  he  was  in  Canada,  and  that  he  had 
occasional  attacks  now,  never  having  entirely  recovered.  He  was 
not  disposed  to  talk,  and  still  he  seemed  pleased  at  the  attentions 
received  from  the  young  gentlemen  who  visited  him  occasionally 
during  his  short  stay.  I  do  not  remember  ever  having  seen  him  on 
the  street,  or  in  the  company  of  any  one,  except  some  of  the  young 
men  who  were  reading  with  Judge  Reeve.  Some  years  after  this,  I 
met  Colonel  Burr  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  spent  an  evening  with 
him.  At  this  time  he  alluded  to  his  trip  down  the  Mississippi,  and 
made  inquiry  after  several  persons  whom  he  had  known.  There 
were  then  living  three  men  who,  as  his  aides,  had  accompanied  him 
upon  his  expedition.  I  knew  the  fact,  and  expected  he  would  allude 
to  them,  but  he  did  not.  He  seemed  to  desire  to  know  more  of 
1  those  who  had  been  active  in  procuring  his  arrest. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  2OI 

It  was  Cowles  Mead  (who  was  acting  Governor  of  the  Territory 
of  Mississippi  at  the  time)  who  arrested  Burr  at  Bruensburgh,  a  small 
hamlet  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  immediately  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Bayou  Pierre.  "Mead,"  he  said,  "was  a  great 
admirer  of  Jefferson,  because,  I  suppose,  when  he  had  been  unseated 
by  the  contestant  of  his  election,  (a  Mr.  Spaulding,)  Jefferson,  to 
appease  his  wounded  feelings,  had  appointed  him  secretary  to  the 
Mississippi  Territory.  He  was  a  vain  man  of  very  small  mind,  and 
full  of  the  importance  of  his  official  station."  I  remarked  that  he 
was  a  brother-in-law  of  mine.  "  I  was  not  aware  of  that,  but  I  am 
sure  you  are  too  well  acquainted  with  the  truth  of  the  statement 
to  be  offended  at  my  stating  it."  I  remarked:  "Colonel,  I  am 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  General  Mead,  and  equally  as  well 
acquainted  with  all  the  circumstances  connected  with  your  acquaint- 
ance with  him.  The  adventure  of  Bruensburgh  has  been,  through 
life,  a  favorite  theme  with  the  General,  and  I  doubt  if  there  is  living 
a  man  who  ever  knew  the  General  a  month,  who  has  not  heard  the 
story  repeated  a  dozen  times."  He  dryly  remarked:  "I  should 
have  supposed  the  episode  to  that  affair  would  have  restrained  him 
from  its  narration;"  and  the  conversation  ceased. 

I  shall  have  much  more  to  say  of  these  two  in  a  future  chapter. 
At  this  time  Colonel  Burr  was  old  and  slightly  bent,  very  unlike 
what  he  was  when  I  first  met  him ;  still  his  eyes  and  nose,  brow  and 
mouth,  wore  the  same  expression  they  did  fifteen  years  before. 
About  the  mouth  and  eye  there  was  a  sinister  expression,  and  he  had 
a  habit  of  looking  furtively  out  of  the  corner  of  his  eye  at  you,  when 
you  did  not  suppose  he  was  giving  any  attention  to  you. 


202  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

CHAPTER  XV. 

CHANGE   OF  GOVERNMENT. 

GOVERNOR  WOLCOTT— TOLERATION— MR.  MONROE— PRIVATE  LIFE  OF  WASH- 
INGTON— THOMAS  JEFFERSON— THE  OBJECT  AND  SCIENCE  OF  GOVERNMENT  — 
COURT  ETIQUETTE  — NATURE  THE  TEACHER  AND  GUIDE  IN  ALL  THINGS. 

DURING  the  year  1820  I  was  frequently  a  visitor  at  the  house 
of  Governor  Oliver  Wolcott,  who  then  resided  in  Litchfield, 
Connecticut.  Governor  Wolcott  was  a  remarkable  man  in  many 
respects.  He  was  originally  a  Federalist  in  politics,  and  enjoyed 
the  confidence  of  that  party  to  an* unlimited  extent.  His  abilities 
were  far  above  ordinary,  and  his  family  one  of  great  respectability. 
He  was  a  native  of  Connecticut,  and  after  Alexander  Hamilton 
retired  from  the  Treasury  bureau  in  the  Cabinet  of  Washington,  he 
succeeded  to  that  position.  He  filled  the  office  with  credit  to  himself, 
and  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  chief.  He  had,  after  considerable  time 
spent  in  public  life,  left  Connecticut,  to  reside  in  New  York.  Sub- 
sequent to  the  war,  and  when  the  Federal  party  had  abandoned  its 
organization  under  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Monroe,  there  grew 
up  in  his  native  State  a  party  called  the  Toleration  party.  In  reality 
it  was  a  party  prescriptive  of  the  old  Federal  leaders,  and  it  grew 
out  of  some  legislation  in  connection  with  religious  matters,  in  which, 
as  usual,  the  Puritan  element  had  attempted  to  oppress,  by  special 
taxation,  for  their  own  benefit,  all  others  differing  from  them  in  reli- 
gious creed.  Governor  Wolcott  favored  this  new  organization,  and 
he  was  invited  to  return  to  the  State  and  give  his  aid  to  its  success. 
He  did  so,  and  in  due  time  was  made  Governor  by  this  party.  At 
the  time  of  which  I  write,  he  was  as  bitterly  and  sincerely  hated  by 
the  old  Federal  party  as  ever  Jefferson  was,  or  as  Andy  Johnson 
now  is  by  the  Radical  party,  which  is  largely  constituted  of  the  dtbris 
of  that  old  and  intolerant  organization,  and  which  is  now  eliminating 
every  principle  of  the  Constitution  to  gratify  that  thirst  for  power, 
and  to  use  it  for  persecution,  that  seems  inherent  in  the  nature  of  the 
Puritan.  By  the  hour  I  have  listened  to  the  abuse  of  him,  from  the 
mouths  of  men  whose  lives  had  been  spent  in  his  praise  and  support, 
simply  .because  he  had  interposed  his  talents  and  influence  to  arrest 


FIFTY     YEARS.  2O3 

the  oppressor's  hand.  They  said  he  had  deserted  his  party,  that 
he  would  live  to  share  the  fate  of  Burr,  and  that  he  was  as  great  a 
traitor. 

The  bitterness  and  injustice  of  party  is  proverbial,  and  its  want  of 
reason  is  astonishing.  Men  who  are  cool  and  considerate  on  all 
other  subjects,  are  frequently  the  most  violent  and  unreasonable  as 
partisans.  It  seems  akin  to  religious  fanaticism,  and  proscribes  with 
the  same  bigotry  all  who  will  not,  or  conscientiously  cannot,  act  or 
think  with  them.  It  prescribes  opinions,  and  they  must  be  obeyed 
by  all  who  belong  to  the  organization,  and  without  reservation  or 
qualification.  Its  exactions  are  as  fierce  and  indisputable  as  the 
laws  and  regulations  of  the  Jesuits.  These  are  changed  with  party 
necessities,  and  not  unfrequently  are  diametrically  antagonistic  to  the 
former  creed ;  yet  you  must  follow  and  sustain  them,  or  else  you  are  a 
traitor,  and  denounced  and  driven  from  the  party,  and  often  from 
intercourse  socially  with  those  who  have  been  your  neighbors  and 
friends  from  boyhood.  In  this  method  party  compels  dishonesty  in 
politics,  and  is  eminently  demoralizing,  for  it  is  impossible  to  famil- 
iarize the  conscience  with  political  dishonesty  without  tainting  the 
moral  man  in  ordinary  matters  pertaining  to  life.  Once  break  down 
the  barrier  which  separates  the  right  from  the  wrong,  that  success 
may  come  of  it,  and  every  principle  of  restraint  to  immoral  or  dis- 
honest conduct  is  swept  away.  For  this  reason  men  of  stern  integ- 
rity never  make  good  politicians.  They  are  very  often  the  reliable 
statesmen,  never  the  reliable  politicians. 

Governor  Wolcott  had  through  his  life  sustained  an  unimpeached 
reputation.  He  had  filled  to  the  full  his  political  ambition.  Again 
and  again  he  had  been  honored  by  his  people  who  had  grown  up 
with  him.  He  had  been  honored  by  the  confidence  of  Washington, 
and  the  nation.  He  was  wealthy,  was  old,  and  only  aspired  to  do, 
and  to  see  done,  justice  to  the  whole  people  of  his  native  State.  In 
doing  this  he  came  in  conflict  with  the  unjust  views  and  iniquitous 
conduct  of  an  old,  crushed  party,  and  he  was  denounced  as  a  traitor, 
and  ostracized  because  he  would  be  just. 

This  was  the  disruption  forever  of  the  Federal  party  in  Connecti- 
cut; for  though  it  had  ceased  to  exist  as  a  national  organization,  it 
still  was  sufficiently  intact  to  control  most  of  the  New  England 
States.  Mr.  Monroe's  Administration  had  been  so  popular  that  in 
his  second  election  he  received  every  vote  of  every  State  in  the 


204  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

Union,  save  New  Hampshire :  one  man  in  her  electoral  college,  who 
was  appointed  to  vote  for  him,  refused  to  do  so,  and  gave  as  his 
reason  that  he  was  a  slave-owner.  New  interests  had  supervened, 
old  issues  were  dead  —  they  had  had  their  day  —  their  mission  was 
accomplished ;  old  men  were  passing  away,  the  nation  was  expanding 
into  great  proportions,  and  men  of  great  talents  were  growing  with  and 
for  the  occasion ;  old  party  animosities  were  dimming  out,  and  the  era' 
of  good  feelings  seemed  to  pervade  the  national  heart.  Even  John 
Adams  and  Thomas  Jefferson  were  amicably  corresponding  and 
growing  affectionate  at  eighty.  It  was  but  the  lull  which  precedes 
the  storm  —  the  sultry  quiet  which  augurs  the  earthquake. 

Upon  one  occasion  I  ventured  to  ask  Governor  Wolcott  to  tell  me 
something  of  Washington.  We  were  strolling  in  his  garden,  where 
he  had  invited  me  to  look  at  some  melons  he  was  attempting  to  grow 
under  glass.  He  stopped,  and  turning  round,  looked  me  full  in  the 
face,  and  asked  me  if  I  had  not  read  the  "Life  of  Washington." 

"Not  the  private  life,"  was  the  reply. 

"Ah  i  a  very  laudable  curiosity  in  one  so  young.  I  knew  him 
well,  and  can  only  say  his  private  was  very  much  like  his  public  life. 
I  do  not  suppose  there  ever  lived  a  man  more  natural  in  his  deport- 
ment than  Washington.  He  did  nothing  for  effect.  He  was  more 
nearly  the  same  man  on  the  street  that  he  was  in  his  night-gown 
and  slippers,  than  any  man  I  ever  knew ;  I  can't  say  I  was  intimate 
with  Washington ;  no  man  can  or  ever  could  have  said  that.  His 
dignity  was  austere  and  natural.  It  was  grand,  and  awed  and 
inspired  a  respect  from  every  one  alike.  You  breathed  low  in  his 
presence  —  you  felt  uneasy  in  your  seat,  before  him.  There  was  an 
inspiring  something  about  him,  that  made  you  feel  it  was  a  duty  to 
stand  in  his  presence,  uncovered,  and  respectfully  silent.  I  have 
heard  this  sternness  attributed  to  his  habit  of  command  ;  not  so  —  it 
was  natural,  and  he  was  unconscious  of  it.  Most  men,  however 
stern,  will  unbend  to  woman.  There  is  in  woman's  presence  a 
divinity  which  thaws  the  rigor  of  the  heart  and  warms  the  soul,  which 
manifests  itself  in  the  softening  of  the  eye,  in  the  glow  upon  the 
cheek,  and  the  relaxation  of  manner.  It  was  not  so  with  Washing- 
ton. In  his  reception-rooms  he  was  easily  polite  and  courteously 
affable;  but  his  dignity  and  the  inflexibility  of  his  features  never 
relaxed. 

"  I  remember  to  have  heard  Mrs.  Adams  say  'she  did  not  think 


FIFTY     YEARS.  2O5 

he  was  ever  more  than  polite  to  Mrs.  Washington.'  With  all  this  he 
was  very  kind,  and  if  he  ever  did  let  himself  down  it  was  to  children, 
and  these  never  seemed  to  feel  his  austerity,  or  to  shrink  away  from 
it.  It  is  said  that  it  is  the  gift  of  childhood  to  see  the  heart  in  the 
eye  and  the  face.  It  is  certain  they  never  approach  an  ill-natured 
or  bad  man,  and  never  shrink  from  a  kind  and  good  one.  In  his 
intercourse  with  his  Cabinet,  he  was  respectful  to  difference  — con- 
sulted each  without  reserve  or  concealment,  and  always  weighed  well 
their  opinions,  and  never  failed  to  render  to  them  his  reasons  for 
differing  with  them.  He  was  very  concise  and  exact  in  stating  a 
case,  and  never  failed  to  understand  well  every  question  before 
acting.  He  had  system  and  order  in  everything.  In  his  private 
affairs,  in  his  household,  as  well  as  in  his  public  conduct,  he  observed 
strict  rules,  and  exacted  their  obedience  from  all  about  him.  In 
nothing  was  he  demonstrative  or  impulsive ;  but  always  considerate 
and  cool. 

"  I  know  nothing  of  his  domestic  matters.  There  were  malicious 
persons  who  started  many  reports  of  discord  between  Washington 
and  his  lady.  These  I  believe  were  all  false.  Mrs.  Washington 
was  a  high-bred  woman,  a  lady  in  everything ;  and  so  far  as  my 
observation  or  acquaintance  extended,  was  devoted  and  dutiful.  Of 
one  thing  I  am  very  sure :  she  was  a  proud  woman,  and  was  proud 
of  her  husband.  She  certainly  had  not  the  dignity  of  her  husband ; 
no  one,  male  or  female,  ever  had.  She  was  less,  reserved,  more 
accessible,  and  not  indifferent  to  the  attentions  and  flatteries  of  her 
husband's  friends.  In  fine,  she  was  a  woman.  Washington's  deport- 
ment toward  his  wife  was  kind  and  respectful,  but  always  dignified 
and  courteous.  Toward  his  servants  he  was  uniformly  kind. 

"  He  was  an  enemy  to  slavery,  and  never  hesitated  to  avcfcv  his 
sentiments.  His  black  servants  were  very  much  attached  to  him. 
The  peculiar  nature  of  Washington  forbade  those  heart-friendships 
demanded  by  a  narrower  and  more  impulsive  nature.  He  kept  all 
the  world  too  far  from  him  ever  to  win  -that  tenderness  of  affection 
which  sweetens  social  life  in  the  blending  of  hearts  and  sympathy 
of  souls.  But  he  commanded  that  esteem  which  results  from  respect 
and  appreciation  of  the  great  and  commanding  attributes  of  his 
nature,  which  elevated  him  so  far  above  the  men  of  his  age.  He 
wanted  the  softness  and  yielding  of  the  heart  that  so  wins  upon  the 
affections  of  associates  and  those  who  are  in  close  and  constant 
18 


200  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

intercommunication.  Are  not  these  incompatible  with  the  stern 
and  towering  traits  essential  to  such  a  character  as  was  Washington's? 
Like  a  shaft  of  polished  granite  towering  amid  shrubs  and  flowers, 
cold  and  hard,  but  grand  and  beautiful,  he  stood  among  the  men  and 
the  women  who  surrounded  him  when  President. 

"  General  Washington  was  cautious  and  reserved  in  his  expressions 
about  men.  He  rarely  praised  or  censured.  At  the  time  I  was  in 
the  Cabinet,  he  had  abundant  cause  for  dislike  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  who, 
in  his  Maze'i  letter,  had  represented  him  as  laboring  to  break  up  the 
Government,  that  upon  its  ruins  a  monarchy  might  arise  for  his  own 
benefit.  He  spoke  of  this  letter  more  severely  than  I  had  ever 
heard  him  speak  of  anything,  and  said  no  man  better  knew  the 
charge  false,  than  Mr.  Jefferson.  Some  correspondence,  I  believe, 
look  place  between  them  on  the  subject.  I  believe  they  never  met 
after  this.  Upon  one  occasion  I  heard  him  say  that  it  was  unfor- 
tunate that  Jefferson  had  been  sent  to  France  at  the  time  that  he  was, 
when  morals  and  government  alike  were  little  less  than  chaos,  for 
he  had  been  tainted  in  his  ideas  of  both." 

"You  knew  Mr.  Jefferson?"  I  asked. 

"Come  into  the  house,  and  I  will  show  you  something,"  said  the 
venerable  man,  then  tottering  to  the  grave.  I  went,  and  he  showed 
me  some  letters  addressed  to  him  by  persons  in  Virginia,  presenting, 
in  no  very  enviable  light,  the  character  of  Jefferson.  When  I  had 
read  them,  he  remarked  :  "  You  must  not  suppose  I  am  anxious  to 
prejudice  your  youthful  mind  against  the  great  favorite  of  your 
people.  It  is  not  so.  You  seem  solicitous  to  learn  something  of  the 
men  who  have  had  so  much  agency  in  the  establishment  of  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  formation  of  the  opinions  of  the  people,  that  I  am 
willing  you  should  see  upon  what  my  opinions  have,  in  a  great 
degree,  been  formed.  Mr.  Jefferson  is  still  living,  and  still  writing. 
His  peri  seems  to  have  lost  none  of  its  vigor,  nor  his  heart  any  of  its 
venom.  You  will  hear  him  greatly  praised,  and  greatly  abused.  I 
knew  him  at  one  time,  but- never  intimately,  and  may  be  said  only 
to  know  him  as  a  public  man;  what  of  his  private  character  I 
know,  comes  from  the  statements  of  others,  and  general  report.  You 
have  just  seen  some  of  these  statements.  I  knew  the  writers  of  these 
letters  well,  and  know  their  statements  to  be  entitled  to  credit,  and 
I  believe  them.  They  assure  me  that  Mr.  Jefferson  is  without  moral 
principle.  His  public  conduct  must  convince  every  one  of  his  want 


FIFTY     YEARS.  2O/ 

of  political  principle.  His  whole  life  has  been  a  bundle  of  contra- 
dictions. He  has  had  neither  chart  nor  compass  by  which  to  regu- 
late his  course,  but  has  universally  adopted  the  expedient. 

"  That  he  has  a  great  and  most  vigorous  intellect  is  beyond  all 
question  j  but  most  of  its  emanations  have  been  the  ad  captandum  to 
seize  the  current,  and  sail  with  it.  He  saw  the  democratic  proclivity 
of  the  people,  he  concentrated  it  by  the  use  of  his  pen,  and  he  has 
aided  its  expansion,  until  it  threatens  ruin  to  the  Government.  He 
knows  it,  and  he  still  perseveres.  Under  the  plea  of  inviting  popu- 
lation, he  advocated  the  extension  of  the  franchise  to  aliens,  and  was 
really  the  parent  from  whose  brain  was  born  the  naturalization  laws, 
making  citizens  of  every  nationality,  and  giving  them  all  the  powers 
of  the  Government,  extending  suffrage  to  every  pauper  in  the  land, 
increasing  to  the  utmost  the  material  for  'the  demagogue,  and  thus 
depriving  the  intelligence  of  the  country  of  the  power  to  control  it. 
The  specious  argument  that  if  a  man  is  compelled  to  serve  in  the 
militia  and  defend  the  country,  he  should  be  entitled  to  vote,  was 
his.  Its  sophistry  is  as  palpable  to  Jefferson  as  to  every  thinking 
mind.  Government  is  the  most  abstruse  of  the  sciences,  and  should, 
for  the  security  of  all,  be  controlled  by  the  intelligence  of  the 
country.  During  the  world's  existence,  all  the  intelligence  it  has 
ever  afforded,  has  not  been  competent  to  the  formation  of  a  govern- 
ment approximating  perfection. 

"The  object  of  government  is  the  protection  of  life,  liberty,  and 
property.  The  tenure  of  property  is  established  and  sustained  by 
law ;  it  is  the  basis  of  government ;  it  is  the  support  of  government ; 
in  proportion  to  its  extent  and  security,  it  is  the  strength  and  power 
of  government,  and  those  who  possess  it  should  have  the  control  of 
government.  In  a  republic,  there  can  be  no  better  standard  of  intel- 
ligence than  the  possession  of  property,  and  to  give  the  greatest 
security  to  the  government,  none  should,  in  a  republic,  be  intrusted 
with  the  ballot,  but  the  native,  and  the  property-holder,  or  the  native 
property-holder.  The  complications  of  our  system  are  scarcely  under- 
stood by  our  own  people,  and  to  suppose  that  ignorant  men  (for 
such  constitute  the  bulk  of  our  emigrant  population)  shall  become  so 
intimate  with  it,  and  so  much  attached  to  it,  as  to  constitute  them,  in 
a  few  years,  persons  to  be  intrusted  with  its  control,  is  supposing 
human  intelligence  to  be  of  much  higher  grasp  than  I  have  ever 
found  it.  Most  of  these  emigrants  come  here  with  preconceived 


2o8  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

prejudices  toward  the  institutions  of  their  native  lands.  This  is 
natural.  Most  of  them  speak  a  foreign  language.  This  4ias  to  be 
overcome,  before  they  can  even  commence  to  learn  the  nature  and 
operation  of  our  system,  which  is  so  radically  dissimilar  to  any  and 
all  others.  These  men,  as  the  ignorant  of  our  own  people,  naturally 
lean  on  some  one  who  shall  direct  them,  and  they  will  blindly  do 
his  bidding.  This  is  an  invitation  to  the  demagogue  ;  these  are  his 
materials,  and  he  will  aggregate  and  control  them.  Such  men  are 
always  poor,  and  envy  makes  them  the  enemies  of  the  rich.  This 
creates  an  antagonism,  which  we  see  existing  in  every  country. 

"The  poor  are  dependent  for  employment  upon  the  rich ;  the  rich 
are  dependent  upon  the  poor  for  labor.  .This  mutual  dependence,  it 
would  be  supposed,  would  tend  to  create  mutual  regard ;  but  expe- 
rience teaches  the  reverse.'  The  poor  have  nothing  to  sell  but  their 
labor,  and  there  are  none  to  buy  but  the  rich.  Each,  naturally, 
struggles  to  make  the  best  bargain  possible,  and  take  advantage  of 
every  circumstance  to  effect  this.  Very  few  are  satisfied  with  fair 
equivalents,  and  one  or  the  other  always  feels  aggrieved.  Here  is 
the  difficulty.  Well,  endow  the  laborer  with  the  ballot,  and  he  usurps 
the  government ;  for  to  vote  is  to  govern.  What  is  to  be  the  conse- 
quence? We  now  have,  with  all  the  means  of  expansion  and  facili- 
ties a  new  country  of  boundless  extent  gives  to  the  poor  for  finding 
and  making  homes,  many  mor^  without  property  than  with  it.  This 
disproportion  will  go  on  to  increase  until  it  assimilates  to  every  old 
country,  with  a  few  rich  and  many  poor.  These  many  will  control : 
they  will  send  of  their  own  men  to  legislate ;  they  will  favor  theii 
friends ;  they  will  levy  the  taxes,  which  the  property-holders  of  the 
country  must  pay ;  they  will  make  the  laws  appropriating  these 
taxes ;  all  will  be  for  the  benefit  of  their  constituency,  and  the  prop- 
erty, the  government,  and  the  people  are  all  at  their  mercy.  Jef- 
ferson sees  chis,  and  is  taking  advantage  of  it,  and  has  indoctrinated 
the  whole  unthinking  portion  of  our  people  with  these  destructive 
notions.  It  made  him  President.  His  example  has  proven  conta- 
gious, and  I  see  no  end  to  its  results  short  of  the  destruction  of  the 
Government,  and  that  speedily.  Mr.  Jefferson's  fame  will  be  co-exist- 
ent with  the  Government.  When  that  shall  perish,  his  great  errors 
will  be  apparent.  The  impartial  historian,  inquiring  into  the  cause 
of  this  destruction,  with  half  an  eye  will  see  it,  and  then  his  true 
character  will  be  sketched,  and  this  great,  unprincipled  demagogue 


FIFTY   YEARS.  209 

will  go  naked  down  to  posterity.  He  has  always  been  unprincipled, 
immoral,  and  dissolute.  These,  accompanying  his  great  intellect, 
have  made  it  a  curse,  rather  than  a  blessing,  to  his  kind. 

"  The  world  has  produced  few  great  statesmen  —  Washington  and 
Hamilton  were  the  only  ones  of  any  pretensions  this  country  has 
produced.  It  was  a  great  misfortune  that  Hamilton  did  not  succeed 
Washington.  Mr.  Adams,  now  lingering  to  his  end  at  Braintree,  was 
a  patriot,  but  greatly  wanting  in  the  attributes  of  greatness.  He  was 
suspicious,  ill-tempered,  and  full  of  unmanly  prejudices  —  was  inca- 
pable of  comprehending  the  great  necessities  of  his  country,  as  well 
as  the  means  to  direct  and  control  these  necessities.  He  had  ani- 
mosities to  nurse,  and  enemies  to  punish  —  was  more  concerned 
about  a  proper  respect  for  himself  and  the  office  he  filled,  than  the 
interest  and  the  destiny  of  his  country.  He  quarrelled  with  Wash- 
ington, was  jealous  of  him,  who  never  had  a  thought  but  for  his 
country.  Adams  was  all  selfishness,  little  selfishness,  and  earned  and 
got  the  contempt  of  the  whole  nation.  Jefferson  was  turning  all  this 
to  his  own  advantage ;  and  the  errors  and  folfies  of  Adams  were 
made  the  strength  and  wisdom  of  Jefferson.  He  had  but  one  rival 
before  the  nation,  Burr  —  he  whom  you  saw  yesterday,  the  crushed 
victim  of  the  cunning  and  intrigue  of  his  friend  Jefferson. 

"  Washington  had  died — despondent  of  the  future  of  his  country. 
The  prestige  of  his  name  and  presence  was  gone.  He  had  com- 
mitted a  great  error  in  bringing  Jefferson  into  his  Cabinet  and  before 
the  nation  with  his  approbation.  He  knew  every  Cabinet  secret,  and 
took  advantage  of  every  one,  and  had  placed  himself  prominently 
before  the  people,  and  with  Burr  was  elected.  The  defect  in  the  law 
at  existing  at  the  time,  enabled  Burr,  when  returned  with  an  equal 
number  of  electoral  votes,  to  contend  with  Jefferson  for  the  Presi- 
dency. It  was  in  the  power  of  Hamilton,  at  this  time,  to  elect.  The 
States  were,  divided,  six  for  Burr,  eight  for  Jefferson,  and  two  divided. 
There  was  one  State  voting  for  Jefferson,  which  by  the  change  of 
one  vote  would  have  been  given  to  Burr :  the  divided  States  were 
under  his  control.  He  was,  during  the  ballotings,  sent  for,  with  a  view 
to  the  election  of  Burr;  but  he  preferred  Jefferson  —  thought  him  less 
dangerous  than  Burr,  and  procured  his  election.  It  was  a  terrible 
alternative,  to  have  to  choose  between  two  such  men.  The  conse- 
quences to  Burr  and  the  country  have  been  terrible — the  destruction 
of  both. 

18*  O 


2io  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

"I  suppose  much  I  have  said  cuts  across  your  prejudice,  coming 
from  the  South.  I  have  sought  to  speak  sincerely  to  you,  because  you 
are  young,  impressible,  and  anxious  for  knowledge ;  and  it  is  better 
to  know  an  unwelcome  truth,  than  to  find  out  by-and-by  you  have 
all  your  life  been  believing  an  untruth.  Nothing  is  more  sickening 
to  the  candid  and  sincere  heart,  than  to  learn  its  cherished  opinions 
and  dearest  hopes  have  been  nothing  but  fallacies;  and  when  you  are 
old  as  I  am,  you  will  have  been  more  fortunate  than  I  have  been,  if 
you  do  not  find  much  that  you  have  loved  most,  and  most  trusted,  a 
deceit — a  miserable  lie.  Come  and  see  me  at  your  leisure:  I  shall 
always  be  glad  to  see  you,  and  equally  as  glad  to  answer  any  of  your 
questions,  if  these  answers  will  give  you  information." 

Governor  Oliver  Wolcott  was  short  in  stature  and  inclined  to  corpu- 
lency ;  his  head  was  large  and  round,  with  an  ample  forehead ;  his  eyes 
were  gray  and  very  pleasant  in  their  expression ;  his  mouth  was  volup- 
tuous, and  upon  his  lips  there  usually  lurked  a  smile,  humorous  in  its 
threatening,  provoking  a  pleasing  dimple  upon  his  cheek.  In  society, 
in  his  extreme  old  "age,  for  I  only  knew  him  then,  he  was  less  gay 
than  the  general  expression  of  his  features  would  have  indicated.  He 
was  a  man  of  strong  will  and  most  decided  character.  His  indi- 
viduality was  marked  and  striking,  and  his  tenacity  of  purpose  made 
his  character  one  of  remarkable  consistency. 

Governor  Wolcott  was  one  of  the  old -school  Federalists,  a 
thorough  believer  in  Federal  principles.  He  believed  in  the 
capacity  of  the  people  for  self-government,  if  the  franchise  of  suf- 
frage was  confined  to  the  intelligence  and  freeholds  of  the  country, 
but  reprobated  the  idea  of  universal  suffrage  as  destructive  of  all  that 
was  good  in  republican  institutions.  Succeeding.  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  he  found  all  matters  of  finance 
connected  with  the  Government  in  so  healthy  a  condition  and 
arranged  upon  such  a  basis  as  only  required  that  he  should  be  care- 
ful to  keep  them  there.  During  the  four  last  years  of  the  Adminis- 
tration of  Washington,  this  prevented  any  display  on  his  part  of  any 
striking  financial  ability.  The  administration  of  his  office  was 
entirely  satisfactory  to  the  country,  though  it  seemed  he  was  only 
there  to  superintend  the  workings  of  the  genius  of  Hamilton.  Once 
in  my  hearing  he  remarked,  he  had  only  to  work  up  to  the  scribings 
of  Hamilton  to  make  everything  joint  up  and  fit  well. 

He  held  Washington  in  higher  esteem  even  than  Colonel  Talmage; 


FIFTYYEARS.  2  H 

and  differed  from  him  in  many  particulars  relative  to  his  character. 
It  was  my  good  fortune  to  sit  and  listen,  more  than  once,  to  discus- 
sions l>etween  these  venerable  men.  It  was  always  amicable  and 
eminently  instructive.  Wolcott  was  an  admirer  of  Mrs.  Washington, 
Talmage  was  not.  Talmage  was  a  military  man,  and  saw  a  healthy 
discipline  only  in  obedience  to  superiors,  and  exacted  in  his  own 
family  what  he  deemed  was  proper  in  that  of  every  man.  Accus- 
tomed himself  to  a  strict  obedience  to  the  commands  of  his  superiors, 
and  deeming  Washington  almost  incapable  of  error,  he  thought 
hardly  even  of  Mrs.  Washington  when  she  manifested  a  disposition 
the  slightest  to  independence  of  her  husband.  Wolcott  did  not  see 
her  in  the  camp,  but  only  as  the  wife  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States — mistress  of  the  Presidential  mansion,  and  affably  dispensing 
the  duties  of  hostess  there  —  receiving,  entertaining,  and  socially 
intermingling  in  the  society  admitted  to  the  Presidential  circle. 

At  that  period  there  was  more  of  ceremony  and  display  in  the 
higher  circles  of  official  society  than  at  this  time.  The  people  had 
seceded  from  a  monarchical  government,  and  established  a  demo- 
cratic one ;  but  the  prestige  of  titular  and  aristocratic  society  still 
lingered  with  those  high  in  office,  of  distinguished  position,  and 
wealth.  Many  of  those  most  prominent  about  the  Government  had 
spent  much  time  in  Europe,  and  had  imported  European  manners 
and  customs,  and  desired  to  see  the  court  etiquette  of  the  mother 
country  prevail  at  the  court  of  the  new  Government.  Time  and  the 
institutions  of  democracy  had  not  effected  that  change  in  the  prac- 
tices of  the  people,  which  the  Revolution  and  the  determination  to 
control  and  direct  their  own  government  had  in  their  sentiments. 

Mr.  Jefferson  affected  to  despise  this  formal  ceremony,  and  the  dis- 
tinctions in  society  encouraged  by  monarchical  institutions,  and  sus- 
tained by  authority  of  law  —  though  coming  from  a  State  and  from 
the  midst  of  a  people  whose  leading  and  wealthiest  families  had 
descended  directly  from  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  England,  and 
who  affected  an  aristocracy  of  social  life  extremely  exclusive  in  its 
character,  while  professing  a  democracy  in  political  organization  of 
the  broadest  and  most  comprehensive  type.  His  sagacity  taught  him 
that  the  institutions  of  a  democratic  government  would  soon  pro- 
duce that  social  equality  which  was  their  spirit,  in  the  ordinary  inter- 
course of  the  people  —  that  he  who  enjoyed  all  and  every  privilege, 
politically  and  legally,  given  under  its  Constitution  and  laws,  pos- 


212  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

sessed  a  power  which  ultimately  would  force  his  social  equality  with 
the  most  pretentious  in  the  land.  In  truth,  the  government  was  in 
his  hands,  and  he  would  mould  it  to  his  views,  and  society  to  his 
status. 

The  institutions  of  government  everywhere  form  the  social  organ- 
ization of  society.  Men  are  ambitious  of  distinction  in  every  gov- 
ernment, and  aspire  to  control  in  directing  the  destinies  of  their 
country — are  justly  proud  of  the  respect  and  confidence  of  their  fel- 
low-men, and  will  court  it  in  the  manner  most  likely  to  secure  it. 
Now  and  then,  there  are  to  be  found  some  who  are  insensible  to  any 
fame  save  that  given  by  wealth  —  who  will  wrap  themselves  up  in  a 
pecuniary  importance,  with  an  ostentatious  display  of  their  wealth, 
and  an  exclusiveness  of  social  intercourse,  and  are  contented  with  this, 
and  the  general  contempt.  Such  men,  and  such  social  coteries,  are 
few  in  this  country.  Fortunately,  wealth  which  is  only  used  as  a 
means  of  ostentatious  display  is  worthless  to  communities,  and  its 
possessor  is  contemptible.  "Wealth  is  power"  is  an  adage,  and  is 
true  where  it  is  used  to  promote  the  general  good.  Without  it  no 
people  can  be  prosperous  or  intelligent,  and  the  prosperity  and  intel- 
ligence of  every  people  is  greatest  where  there  is  most  wealth,  and 
where  it  is  most  generally  diffused.  This  is  best  effected  by  demo- 
cratic institutions,  where  every  preferment  is  open  to  all,  and  where 
the  division  of  estates  follows  every  death.  No  large  and  overshad- 
owing estates,  creating  a  moneyed  aristocracy,  can  accumulate,  to 
control  the  legislation  and  the  people's  destinies  under  such  institu- 
tions. No  privileged  class  can  be  sustained  under  their  operation ; 
for  such  a  class  must  always  be  sustained  by  wealth  hereditary  and 
entailed,  protected  from  the  obligations  of  debt,  and  prohibited  from 
division  or  alienation. 

Mr.  Jefferson  had  studied  the  effects  of  governments  upon  their 
people  most  thoroughly,  and  understood  their  operation  upon  the 
social  relations  of  society,  and  the  character  and  minds  of  the  people. 
He  was  wont  to  say  there  was  no  hereditary  transmission  of  mind ; 
that  this  was  democratic,  and  a  Caesar,  a  Solon,  or  a  Demosthenes 
was  as  likely  to  come  from  a  cottage  and  penury  as"  from  a  palace 
and  wealth ;  that  virtue  more  frequently  wore  a  smock-frock  than  a 
laced  coat,  and  that  the  institutions  of  every  government  should  be 
so  modelled  as  to  afford  opportunity  to  these  to  become  what  nature 
designed  they  should  be  —  models  of  worth  and  usefulness  to  the 


F  I  F  T  Y     Y  E  A  R  S.  213 

country.  Every  one  owes  to  society  obligations,  and  the  means 
should  be  afforded  to  all  to  make  available  these  obligations  for  the 
public  good.  Nature  never  designed  that  man  should  hedge  about 
with  law  a  favored  few,  until  these  should  establish  a  natural  claim 
to  such  protection,  by  producing  all  the  intellect  and  virtue  of  the 
commonwealth.  This  was  common  property,  and  wherever  found, 
in  all  the  gradations  and  ranges  of  society,  should,  under  the  opera- 
tions of  law,  be  afforded  the  same  opportunities  as  the  most  favored 
by  fortune.  "  In  all  things  nature  should  be  teacher  and  guide." 

These  doctrines  are  beautiful  in  theory,  and  are  well  calculated  to 
fasten  upon  the  minds  of  the  many.  They  have  been,  time  and 
again,  incorporated  into  the  constitution  of  governments,  and  have 
uniformly  produced  the  same  disastrous  results.  They  are  equally 
as  fallacious  as  the  declaration  "that  all  men  are  born  free  and 
equal,"  which,  with  those  above,  has  won  the  public  approbation  in 
spite  of  experience.  The  equality  of  intellect  is  as  certainly  untrue 
as  the  equality  of  stature ;  the  one  is  not  more  apparent  than  the 
other.  Transcendent  intellect  is  as  rare  as  an  eclipse  of  the  sun.  It 
manifests  itself  in  the  control  of  all  others — in  forming  the  opinions 
and  shaping  the  destinies  of  all  others.  This  is 'a  birthright  —  is 
never  acquired,  admits  of  great  cultivation,  receives  impressions,  gen- 
erates ideas,  and  makes  wonderful  efforts.  Cultivation  and  education 
gives  it  these,  but  never  its  vigor  and  power.  In  whatever  grade  or 
caste  of  society  this  is  born,  it  soon  works  its  way  to  the  top,  disrupts 
every  band  which  ties  it  down,  and  naturally  rises  above  the  lower 
strata,  as  the  rarefied  atmosphere  rises  above  the  denser.  This 
higher  order  of  intellect  will  naturally  control,  and  as  naturally  pro- 
tect its  power.  From  such,  a  better  government  may  always  be 
expected;  and  without  this  control,  none  can  be  wholesome  or 
permanent. 


214  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

PARTY    PRINCIPLES. 

ORIGIN  OF  PARTIES  —  FEDERAL  AND  REPUBLICAN  PECULIARITIES  —  JEFFERSON'S 
PRINCIPLES  AND  RELIGION  —  DEMOCRACY  —  VIRGINIA  AND  MASSACHUSETTS 
PARTIES— WAR  WITH  FRANCE  — SEDITION  LAW  — LYMAN  BEECHER — THE 
ALMIGHTY  DOLLAR  —  "  HAIL  COLUMBIA"  AND  "  YANKEE  DOODLE." 

THE  Federal  and  Republican  parties  of  the  nation  had  their  rise 
and  formation  out  of  the  two  principles  of  government  —  the 
one  descending,  as  by  inheritance,  from  the  mother-country,  and  the 
other  growing  out  of  the  formation  of  the  governments  established 
in  the  early  organization  of  the  colonies.  A  republican  form  of 
government  was  natural  to  the  people.  It  had  become  so  from 
habit.  They  had,  in  each  colony,  enjoyed  a  representative  form ; 
had  made  their  own  laws,  and,  with  the  exception  of  their  Governors 
and  judicial  officers,  had  chosen,  by  ballot,  all  their  legislative  and 
ministerial  officers.  Most  of  the  principles  and  practices  of  a  demo- 
cratic form  of  government,  consequently,  were  familiar  to  them. 
The  etiquette  of  form  and  ceremony  preserved  by  the  Governors, 
conformed  to  English  usage.  This  was  only  familiar  to  those  of  the 
masses  whose  business  brought  them  in  contact  with  these  ministerial 
officers  and  their  appendages. 

These  were  continued,  to  some  extent,  for  a  time;  but  Jefferson 
saw  that  they  must  soon  cease,  and  yield  to  a  sensible,  simple  inter- 
course between  the  officials  of  the  Government  and  the  people.  This 
was  foreshadowed  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  drafted  by 
him.  Immediately  upon  the  success  of  the  Revolution,  and  the 
organization  of  the  General  Government,  he  enunciated  the  opinions 
and  principles  now  known  as  Jeffersonian  or  democratic.  It  has 
been  charged  upon  him,  that  he  borrowed  his  principles  from  the 
leaders  of  the  French  Revolution,  as  he  did  his  religion  from  Vol- 
taire and  Tom  Paine. 

Jefferson  was  an  original  thinker,  and  thought  boldly  on  all  sub- 
jects. He  had  studied  not  only  the  character  and  history  of  gov- 
ernments, but  of  religions,  and  from  the  convictions  of  his  own  judg- 
ment were  formed  his  opinions  and  his  principles.  His  orthodoxy 


FIFTYYEARS.  215 

was  his  doxy,  and  he  cared  very  little  for  the  doxy  of  any  other 
man  or  set  of  men.  His  genius  and  exalted  talents  gave  him  a  light 
which  shines  in  upon  few  brains,  and  if  his  religious  opinions  were 
fallacious,  there  are  few  of  our  day  who  will  say  that  his  social  and 
political  sentiments  were  or  are  wrong.  As  to  his  correctness  in  the 
former,  it  is  not,  nor  will  it  ever  be,  given  to  man  to  demonstrate. 
This  is  the  only  subject  about  which  there  is  no  charity  for  him  who 
differs  from  the  received  dogmas  of  the  Church,  and  to-day  his  name 
is  an  abomination  only  to  the  Federalists  and  the  Church. 

Jefferson  was  made  Secretary  of  State  by  General  Washington, 
and  was  at  once  the  head  and  representative  man  of  the  democracy 
of  the  country.  There  was,  however,  no  organized  opposition  to 
the  Administration  of  Washington.  But  immediately  upon  the 
election  of  Adams  it  begun  to  take  shape  and  form,  under  the 
leadership  of  Jefferson.  The  two  parties  were  first  known  as  the 
Virginia  and  Massachusetts  parties.  Jefferson  had  been  elected 
Vice-President  with  Adams,  and  before  the  termination  of  the  first 
year  of  the  Administration  the  opposition  was  formidable  in  Con- 
gress. Governor  Wolcott  was  of  opinion  that  Adams  destroyed  the 
Federal  party  by  the  unwise  policy  of  his  Administration.  He  said 
he  was  a  man  of  great  intellect,  but  of  capricious  temper,  incapable 
from  principle  or  habit  of  yielding  to  the  popular  will.  He  cer- 
tainly saw  the  palpable  tendency  of  public  feeling,  and  must  have 
known  its  strength :  instead  of  attempting  to  go  with  it,  and  shape 
it  to  the  exigencies  his  party  required,  he  vainly  attempted  to  stem 
the  current,  defy  it,  and  control  it  by  law.  He  disregarded  the 
earnest  entreaties  of  his  best  friends,  counselling  only  with  the 
extremists  of  the  Federal  party :  the  result  was  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
Laws.  Pickering  warned  him,  and  he  quarrelled  with  him.  He 
would  not  conciliate,  but  punish  his  political  foes.  He  loved  to 
exercise  power ;  he  did  it  unscrupulously,  and  became  exceedingly 
offensive  to  many  of  his  own  party,  and  bitterly  hated  by  his  polit- 
ical enemies.  The  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  emanated  from  the 
extremists  of  the  Federal  party,  and  were  in  opposition  to  the  views 
of  Adams  himself —  yet  he  approved  them,  and  determined  to  exe- 
cute them.  He  knew  these  laws  were  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
views  and  feelings  of  an  immense  majority  of  the  people ;  and  with 
these  lights  before  him,  and  when  he  had  it  in  his  power  to  have 
conciliated  the  masses,  he  defied  them. 


2l6  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

Mr.  Adams  was  unaccustomed  to  seek  or  court  public  favor ;  his 
associations  had  never  been  with  the  masses,  and  he  understood  very 
little  of  their  feelings;  when  these  were  forced  upon  him,  he  received 
their  manifestations  with  contempt,  and  uniformly  disregarded  their 
teachings.  All  these  defects  of  character  were  seized  upon  by  the 
opposition,  to  render  odious  the  Federal  party. 

Mr.  Jefferson  placed  himself  in  active  opposition,  and  was  known 
at  an  early  day  as  the  candidate  of  the  opposition  to  succeed  Adams. 
Our  difficulties  with  France,  and  the  action  of  Congress  in  appoint- 
ing Washington  commander-in-chief  of  the  American  forces,  brought 
Washington  into  contact  with  Adams  on  several  occasions;  and 
especially  when  Washington  made  his  acceptance  of  the  office  con- 
ditional upon  the  appointment  of  Hamilton  as  second  in  command, 
Adams  thought  he  had  not  been  respectfully  treated,  either  by  Con- 
gress or  Washington ;  and  there  were  some  pretty  sharp  letters 
written  by  Washington  in  relation  to  the  course  of  Adams. 

Jefferson  was  opposed  to  the  French  war.  The  aid  afforded  by 
France  in  our  Revolution  had  made  grateful  the  public  heart,  and 
the  people  were  indisposed  to  rush  into  a  war  with  her  for  slight 
cause.  The  pen  of  Jefferson  was  never  idle :  he  knew  the  general 
feeling,  and  inflamed  it,  and  what  the  consequences  to  the  country 
might  have  been,  had  not  the  war  come  to  an  abrupt  and  speedy 
end,  there  are  no  means  of  knowing.  The  trial  and  conviction  of 
Lyon  and  Cooper  under  the  Sedition  Law,  aroused  a  burst  of  indig- 
nation from  the  people.  Still  it  taught  no  wisdom  to  Mr.  Adams. 
He  was  urged  to  have  their  prosecutions  abandoned,  but  he  refused. 
After  conviction,  he  was  seriously  pressed  to  pardon  these  men,  in 
obedience  to  the  popular  will,  but  he  persistently  refused,  and  Lyon 
was  continued  in  prison  until  liberated  by  the  success  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  and  the  repeal  of  the  offensive  and  impolitic  laws  soon 
after. 

Adams  professed  great  veneration  for  the  character  of  Washington, 
and  he  was  doubtless  sincere.  Yet  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that 
it  was  he  who  had  seconded  the  motion  when  made  in  Congress  by 
Samuel  Adams  to  appoint  Washington  commander-in-chief  of  the 
armies  of  the  Revolution,  or  that  it  was  he  who  suggested  it  to 
Samuel  Adams,  and  that  he  sustained  the  motion  in  a  speech  of 
burning  eloquence.  He  felt  that  this  conferred  an  obligation  and 
that  Washington  was  at  times  unmindful  of  this.  He  was  more 


FIFTY     YEARS.  21 7 

exacting  than  generous,  and  more  suspicious  than  confiding  In 
truth,  Adams  had  more  mind  than  soul ;  more  ambition  than  patriot- 
ism, and  more  impulse  than  discretion.  Yet  the  country  owes  him 
much.  He  was  a  great  support  in  the  cause  of  the  Revolution,  and 
his  folly  was  to  charge  too  high  for  his  services.  The  people  honored 
him  —  they  have  honored  his  family,  and  will  yet  make  his  son 
President.  He  received  all  they  could  give,  and  his  littleness  crept 
out  in  his  desire  for  more. 

General  Washington's  estimate  of  men  was  generally  correct. 
He  understood  Adams,  Jefferson,  Hamilton,  and  Burr.  I  do  not 
think  he  was  personally  attached  to  any  one  of  them  ;  yet  he  appre- 
ciated them  as  the  public  now  do.  He  had  need  of  the  talents  of 
Hamilton  and  Jefferson.  The  organization  of  the  Government 
required  the  first  minds  of  the  country;  and  Washington  was  the 
man  to  call  them  to  his  side.  In  nothing  did  he  show  more  great- 
ness than  in  this.  He  knew  Jefferson  was  without  principle,  but  he 
knew  that  he  was  eminently  talented ;  he  could  forget  the  one,  and 
call  to  his  aid  the  other.  His  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  Hamil- 
ton was  stronger,  as  well  as  in  his  ability.  Upon  all  matters  of 
deep  concern  to  the  country  he  consulted  both,  and  these  consulta- 
tations  often  brought  these  two  men  into  antagonistical  positions 
before  him,  and  upon  important  public  matters — one  of  which  was 
the  constitutionality  of  a  United  States  Bank.  To  each  of  these, 
when  the  charter  of  the  bank  was  before  him,  he  addressed  a  note 
requesting  their  opinions  upon  its  constitutionality.  Jefferson 
replied  promptly  in  a  short,  written  opinion,  not  well  considered  or 
ably  argued,  as  was  his  wont ;  denying  the  constitutionality  of  such 
an  institution.  This  opinion  was  handed  to  Hamilton,  who  pleaded 
public  duties  as  the  cause  of  delay  on  his  part,  for  not  furnishing  an 
opinion.  It  came  at  last,  and  was  able  and  conclusive,  as  to  its  con- 
stitutionality. But  it  was  terrible  in  its  slashing  and  exposure  of  the 
dogmatical  sophisms  of  Jefferson.  From  that  time  forward  there 
were  bitter  feelings  between  these  two  eminent  men. 

Intellectually,  Hamilton  had  no  equal  in  his  day.  It  is  ridiculous 
to  compare  him  with  Burr,  which  is  often  done  by  persons  who 
should  know  better,  because  they  have  all  the  evidence  upon  which 
to  predicate  a  conclusion.  The  occasion  was  open  to  both,  equally, 
to  discover  to  the  world  what  abilities  they  possessed.  They  equally 
filled  eminent  positions  before  the  nation,  and  at  a  time  when  she 


2ig  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

demanded  the  use  of  the  first  abilities  in  the  land.  What  each  per- 
formed is  before  the  world. 

Men  having  talent  will  always  leave  behind  some  evidence  of  this, 
whether  they  pass  through  life  in  a  public  or  private  capacity.  Flip- 
pant pertness,  with  some  wit,  is  too  often  mistaken  for  talent  —  and 
a  still  tongue  with  a  sage  look,  will  sometimes  pass  for  wisdom.  But 
wherever  there  is  talent  or  wisdom,  it  makes  its  mark. 

The  evidences  of  Hamilton's  abilities  are  manifested  in  his  works. 
They  show  a  versatility  of  talent  unequalled  by  any  modern  man. 
He  was  conspicuous  for  his  great  genius  before  he  was  fifteen  years 
of  age ;  he  was  chief-of-staff  for  General  Washington  before  he  was 
twenty,  and  before  he  was  thirty,  was  admitted  to  be  the  first  mind 
of  the  country.  As  a  military  man,  every  officer  of  the  army  of  the 
Revolution  considered  him  the  very  first ;  as  a  lawyer,  he  had  no 
equal  of  his  day;  as  a  statesman,  he  ranked  above  all  competition  ; 
as  a  financier,  none  were  his  equal,  and  an  abundance  of  evidence 
has  been  left  by  him  to  sustain  this  reputation  in  every  particular. 

What  has  Burr  left  ?  Nothing.  He  still  lives,  and  what  his  pos- 
thumous papers  may  say  for  him,  I  cannot  say ;  but  I  know  him  well, 
and  consequently  expect  nothing.  As  a  lawyer,  he  was  mediocre ; 
as  a  statesman,  vacillating  and  without  any  fixed  principles ;  as  an 
orator,  (for  some  had  claimed  him  to  be  such,)  he  was  turgid  and 
verbose  —  sometimes  he  was  sarcastic,  but  only  when  the  malignity 
of  his  nature  found  vent  in  the  bitterness  of  words.  His  private 
conduct  has,  in  every  situation,  been  bad.  He  was  one  of  the  Lee 
and  Gates  faction  to  displace  Washington  from  the  command  of  the 
army.  He  decried  the  abilities  of  Washington.  He  violated  the 
confidence  of  General  Putnam,  when  his  aide,  in  seducing  Margaret 
Moncrief,  (whose  father  had  intrusted  her  to  Putnam's  care.)  He 
violated  his  faith  to  the  Republican  party,  in  lending  himself  to  the 
Federal  party  to  defeat  the  known  and  expressed  will  of  the  people, 
and  the  Republican  party,  by  contesting  the  election  before  Con- 
gress of  Mr.  Jefferson.  In  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  his  conduct 
was  such  as  to  draw  on  him  the  suspicion  of  corruption,  and  universal 
condemnation.  Contrast  his  public  services  with  his  public  and 
private  vices,  and  see  what  he  is  —  the  despised  of  the  whole  world, 
eking  out  a  miserable  existence  in  hermitical  seclusion  with  a 
woman  of  ill-fame. 

There  resided  as  minister  of  the  Congregational  Church,  at  that 


FIFTY     YEARS.  2IQ 

time,  in  Litchfield,  Lyman  Beecher.  He  was  a  man  of  short  stature ; 
remarkable  dark  complexion,  with  large  and  finely  formed  head ; 
his  features  were  strong  and  irregular,  with  stern,  ascetic  expression. 
He  was  naturally  a  man  of  great  mind,  and  but  for  the  bigoted  char- 
acter of  his  religion,  narrowing  his  mind  to  certain  contemptible 
prejudices  and  opinions,  might  have  been  a  great  man.  Reared  in 
the  practice  of  Puritan  opinions,  and  associated  from  childhood 
with  that  strait-laced  and  intolerant  sect,  his  energies,  (which  were 
indomitable)  and  mind,  more  so  perverted  as  to  become  mischievous, 
instead  of  useful.  He  was  a  propagandist  in  the  broadest  sense  of 
the  term — would  have  made  an  admirable  inquisitor  —  was  without 
any  of  the  charities  of  the  Christian ;  despised  as  heretical  the  creed 
of  every  sect  save  his  own,  and  had  all  of  the  intolerant  bitter- 
ness and  degrading  superstitions  of  the  Puritans,  and  persecutors 
of  Laud,  in  the  Long  Parliament.  In  truth,  he  was  an  immediate 
descendant  of  the  Puritans  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  was  dis- 
tinguished for  the  persecuting  and  intolerant  spirit  of  that  people.  He 
seemed  ever  casting  about  for  something  in  the  principles  or  conduct 
of  others  to  abuse,  and  delighted  to  exhaust  his  genius  in  pouring  out 
his  venom  upon  those  who  did  not  square  their  conduct  and  opinions 
by  his  rule.  At  this  time,  1820,  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the 
Union  gave  rise  to  the  agitation  of  the  extension  of  slavery.  This 
was  a  sweet  morsel  under  and  on  his  tongue.  He  at  once  com- 
menced the  indulgence  of  his  persecuting  spirit,  in  the  abuse  of 
slavery,  and  slave  owners.  His  own  immediate  people  had  com- 
mitted no  sin  in  the  importation  of  the  African,  and  the  money 
accumulated  in  the  traffic  was  not  blood-money.  The  institution 
had  been  wiped  out  in  New  England,  not  by  enfranchisement,  but 
by  sale  to  the  people  of  the  South,  when  no  longer  useful  or  valuable 
at  home ;  and  all  the  sin  of  slavery  had  followed  the  slave,  to  barbarize 
and  degrade  the  people  of  the  South.  The  fertility  of  his  imagination 
could  suggest  a  thousand  evils  growing  from  slavery,  which  concen- 
trating in  the  character  of  those  possessing  them,  made  them  demons 
upon  earth,  and  fit  heritors  of  hell,  deserving  the  wrath  of  God  and 
man. 

It  was  palpable  to  the  scrutinizing  observer,  that  it  was  not  the  sin 
of  slavery  which  actuated  the  zeal  of  Beecher.  The  South  had  held 
control  of  the  Government  almost  'rom  its  inception.  The  North- 
ern, or  Federal  party,  had  been  repudiated  for  the  talents  and  energy 


220  THE     MEM  OKIES     OF 

of  the  South.  Its  principles  and  their  professors  were  odious  —  the 
conduct  of  its  leading  representatives,  during  the  late  war,  had  tainted 
\  New  England,  and  she  was  offensive  to  the  nostrils  of  patriotism 
everywhere.  Her  people  were  restless  and  dissatisfied  under  the  dis- 
grace. They  were  anxious  for  power,  not  to  control  for  the  public 
good  the  destinies  of  the  country ;  but  for  revenge  upon  those  who 
had  triumphed  in  their  overthrow.  Their  people  had  spread  over 
the  West,  and  carried  with  them  their  religion  and  hatred  —  they 
were  ambitious  of  more  territory,  over  which  to  propagate  their  race 
and  creed ;  yet  preparatory  to  the  great  end  of  their  aims,  and  the 
agitation  necessary  to  the  education  of  their  people  upon  this  subject, 
they  must  commence  in  the  pulpit  to  abolish  some  cursing  sin  which 
stood  in  their  way.  They  had  found  it,  and  a  fit  instrument,  too,  in 
Lyman  Beecher,  to  commence  the  work.  It  was  the  sin  of  slavery. 
It  stood  in  the  way  of  New  England  progress  and  New  England 
civilization.  New  England  religion  must  come  to  the  rescue.  There 
was  nothing  good  which  could  come  from  the  South;  all  was  tainted 
with  this  crying  sin.  New  England  purity,  through  New  England 
Puritanism,  must  permeate  all  the  land,  and  effect  the  good  work  — 
and  none  so  efficient  as  Beecher.  The  students  of  the  law-school  had 
a  pew  in  his  little  synagogue  —  it  was  after  the  fashion  of  a  square 
pew,  with  seats  all  around,  and  to  this  he  would  direct  his  eye  when 
pouring  out  his  anathemas  upon  the  South,  Southern  habits,  and 
Southern  institutions ;  four  out  of  five  of  the  members  of  the  school 
were  from  the  South. 

It  was  his  habit  to  ascribe  the  origin  and  practice  of  every  vice  to 
slavery.  Debauchery  of  every  grade,  name,  and  character,  was  born 
of  this,  and  though  every  one  of  these  vices,  in  full  practice,  were 
reeking  under  his  nose,  and  permeating  every  class  of  his  own  people; 
when  seven  out  of  every  ten  of  the  bawds  of  every  brothel,  from 
Maine  to  the  Sabine,  were  from  New  England,  they  were  only  odious 
in  the  South.  I  remember  upon  one  occasion  he  was  dilating  exten- 
sively upon  the  vice  of  drunkenness,  and  accounting  it  as  peculiar  to 
the  South,  and  the  direct  offshoot  of  slavery,  he  exclaimed,  with  his 
eyes  fixed  upon  the  students'  pew :  «  Yes,  my  brethren,  it  is  peculiar 
to  the  people  who  foster  the  accursed  institution  of  slavery,  and  so 
common  is  it  in  the  South,  that  the  father  who  yields  his  daughter 
in  wedlock,  never  thinks  of  asking  if  her  intended  is  a  sobei  man. 
All  he  asks,  or  seems  desirous  to  know,  is  whether  he  is  good-n:;tu*ed 


FIFTY     YEARS.  221 

in  his  cups."  Before  him  sat  his  nest  of  young  adders,  growing  up 
to  inherit  his  religion,  talents,  and  vindictive  spirit.  Instilled  into 
those  from  their  cradles  were  all  the  dogmas  of  Puritanism,  to  stimu- 
late the  mischievous  spirit  of  the  race  to  evil  works.  Admirably 
have  they  fulfilled  their  destiny.  To  the  preaching  and  writings  of 
the  men  and  women  descended  from  Lyman  Beecher  has  more 
misery  ensued,  than  from  any  other  one  source,  for  the  last  century. 
"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  has  slain  its  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  the 
sermons  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher  have  made  to  flow  an  ocean  of 
blood. 

The  example  of  Pymm,  Cromwell,  Whaley,  and  Goff,  and  their 
fate,  has  taught  the  Puritans  no  useful  lesson.  They  seem  to  think 
to  triumph  in  civil  war,  as  their  ancestors  did,  regardless  of  the 
danger  that  a  reaction  may  bring  to  them,  is  all  they  can  desire. 
The  fate  of  these  men  has  no  warning.  Reactions  sometimes  come 
with  terrible  consequences.  They  cannot  see  Cromwell's  dead  body 
hanging  in  chains.  They  will  not  remember  the  fate  of  Whaley  and 
Goff,  whose  bones  are  mouldering  in  their  own  New  Haven,  after 
flying  their  country  and,  for  years,  hiding  in  caves  and  cellars  from 
the  revengeful  pursuit  of  resentful  enemies.  The  Pymms  and  the 
Praise-God-bare-bones  of  the  thirty-ninth  Congress  may  and  (it  is  to 
be  hoped)  will  yet  meet  the  merited  reward  of  their  crimes  of  perse- 
cution and  oppression. 

At  the  time  of  which  I  write,  there  were  many  remaining  in  Con- 
necticut who  participated  in  the  conflicts  and  perils  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. These  men  were  all  animated  with  strong  national  sentiments, 
and  felt  that  every  part  of  the  Union  was  their  country.  They  idol- 
ized Washington,  and  always  spoke  with  affectionate  praise  of  the 
Southern  spirit,  so  prominent  in  her  troops  during  the  war.  The 
conduct  of  the  South  (and  especially  that  of  Georgia  toward  Gen- 
eral Greene,  in  donating  him  a  splendid  plantation,  with  a  palatial 
residence,  upon  the  Savannah  River,  near  the  city  of  Savannah, 
to  which  he  removed,  lived,  and  in  which  he  died,)  was  munificent, 
and  characteristic  of  a  noble  and  generous  people. 

But  these  were  passing  away,  and  a  new  people  were  coming  into 
their  places.  The  effects  of  a  common  cause,  a  common  danger, 
and  a  united  success,  were  not  felt  by  these.  New  interests  excited 
new  aspirations.  The  nation's  peril  was  past,  and  she  was  one  of 
the  great  powers  of  the  earth,  and  acknowledged  as  such.  She  had 
19* 


222  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

triumphantly  passed  through  a  second  war  with  her  unnatural  mother, 
in  which  New  England,  as  a  people,  had  reaped  no  glory.  In  the 
midst  of  the  struggle,  she  had  called  a  convention  of  her  people,  with 
a  view  of  withdrawing  from  the  Union.  Her  people  had  invited  the 
enemy,  with  their  blue-light  signals,  to  enter  the  harbor  they  were 
blockading,  and  where  the  American  ships,  under  the  command  of 
one  of  our  most  gallant  commanders,  had  sought  refuge.  They  were 
sorely  chagrined,  and  full  of  wrath.  They  hated  the  South  and  her 
people.  It  was  growing,  and  they  were  nursing  it.  Even  then  we 
were  a  divided  people,  with  every  interest  conserving  to  unite  us — 
the  South  producing  and  consuming ;  the  North  manufacturing,  car- 
rying, and  selling  for,  and  to,  the  South.  The  harmony  of  com- 
merce, and  the  harmony  of  interest,  had  lost  its  power,  and  we  were 
a  divided  people.  The  breach  widened,  war  followed,  and  ruin  riots 
over  the  land.  The  South  was  the  weaker,  and  went  down;  the 
North  was  the  stronger,  and  triumphed  —  and  the  day  of  her  ven- 
geance has  come. 

In  that  remote  time,  the  chase  after  the  almighty  dollar  had  com- 
menced, and  especially  in  New  England,  where  every  sentiment  was 
subordinate  to  this.  Patriotism  was  a  secondary  sentiment.  Hypo- 
critical pretension  to  the  purity  of  religion  was  used  to  cover  the 
vilest  practices,  and  to  shield  from  public  indignation  men  who, 
praying,  pressed  into  their  service  the  vilest  means  to  make  haste  to 
be  rich.  The  sordid  parsimony  of  ninety-hundredths  of  the  popula- 
tion shut  out  every  sentiment  of  generosity,  and  rooted  from  the 
heart  every  emotion  honorable  to  human  nature.  Neighborhood 
intercourse  was  poisoned  with  selfishness,  and  the  effort  to  overreach, 
and  make  money  out  of,  the  ignorance  or  necessities  of  these,  was 
universal.  These  degrading  practices  crept  into  every  business,  and 
petty  frauds  soon  became  designated  as  Yankee  tricks.  There  was 
nothing  ennobling  in  their  pursuits.  The  honorable  profession  of 
law  dwindled  into  pettifogging  tricks.  Commerce  was  degraded  in 
their  hands  by  fraud  and  chicanery.  The  pernicious  and  grasping 
nature  everywhere  cultivated,  soon  fastened  upon  the  features.  Their 
eyes  were  pale,  their  features  lank  and  hard,  and  the  stony  nature 
was  apparent  in  the  icy  coldness  of  manner,  in  the  deceitful  grin, 
and  lip-laugh,  which  the  eye  never  shared,  and  which  was  only 
affected,  when  interest  prompted,  or  the  started  suspicions  of  an  in- 
tended victim  warned  them  to  be  wary.  The  climate,  and  the  inhos- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  223 

pitable  and  ungenerous  soil,  seemed  to  impart  to  the  people  their  own 
natures. 

The  men  were  all  growing  sharp,  and  the  women,  cold  and  pas- 
sionless ;  the  soul  appeared  to  shrivel  and  sink  into  induration,  and 
the  whole  people  were  growing  into  a  nation  of  cheats  and  dastards. 
Such  was  the  promise  for  the  people  of  New  England,  in  1820.  Has 
it  not  been  realized  in  the  years  of  the  recent  intestine  war?  The 
incentive  held  out  to  her  people  to  volunteer  into  her  armies,  was  the 
^plunder  of  the  South.  The  world  has  never  witnessed  such  rapacity 
for  gain  as  marked  the  armies  of  the  United  States  in  their  march 
through  the  South.  Religion  and  humanity  were  lost  sight  of  in 
the  general  scramble  for  the  goods  and  the  money  of  the  Southern 
people.  Rings  were  snatched  from  the  fingers  of  ladies  and  torn 
from  their  ears ;  their  wardrobes  plundered  and  forwarded  to  ex- 
pectant families  at  home;  graves  were  violated  for  the  plates  of  gold 
and  silver  that  might  be  found  upon  the  coffins;  the  dead  bodies 
of  women  and  men  were  unshrouded  after  exhumation,  to  search 
in  the  coffins  and  shrouds  to  see  if  valuables  were  not  here  concealed ; 
and,  in  numerous  instances,  the  teeth  were  torn  from  the  skeleton 
mouths  of  the  dead  for  the  gold  plugs,  or  gold  plates  that,  might  be 
found  there.  Nor  was  this  heathenish  rapacity  confined  to  the  common 
soldier;  the  commanders  and  subalterns  participated  with  acquisitive 
eagerness,  sharing  fully  with  their  commands  the  hellish  instincts  of 
their  race. 

They  professed  to  come  to  liberate  the  slave,  and  they  uniformly 
robbed  or  swindled  him  of  every  valuable  he  might  possess  —  even 
little  children  were  stripped  of  their  garments,  as  trophies  of  war,  to 
be  forwarded  home  for  the  wear  of  embryo  Puritans,  as  an  example 
for  them  in  future.  Such  are  the  Yankees  of  1863-4,  and  '67.  They 
now  hold  control  of  the  nation  ;  but  her  mighty  heart  is  sore  under 
their  oppression.  She  is  beginning  to  writhe.  It  will  not  be  long, 
before  with  a  mighty  effort  she  will  burst  the  bonds  these  people 
have  tied  about  her  limbs,  will  reassert  the  freedom  of  her  children, 
and  scourge  their  oppressors  with  a  whip  of  scorpions. 

Such  men  as  Talmage,  Humphries,  and  Wolcott  are  no  more  to  be 
found  in  New  England.  The  animus  of  these  men  is  no  longer  with 
these  people.  The  work  of  change  is  complete.  Nothing  remains 
of  their  religion  but  its  semblance  —  the  fanaticism  of  Cotton 
Mather,  without  his  sincerity  —  the  persecuting  spirit  of  Cotton, 


224  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

without  the  sincerity  of  his  motives.  Every  tie  that  once  united  the 
descendants  of  the  Norman  with  those  of  the  Saxon  is  broken. 
They  are  two  in  interest,  two  in  feeling,  two  in  blood,  and  two  in 
hatred.  For  a  time  they  may  dwell  together,  but  not  in  unison;  for 
they  have  nothing  in  common  but  hatred.  Its  fruit  is  discord,  and 
the  day  is  not  distant,  when  these  irreconcilable  elements  must  be 
ruled  with  a  power  despotic  as  independent,  whose  will  must  be  law 
unto  both.  It  is  painful  to  look  back  fifty  years  and  contrast .  the 
harmony  then  pervading  every  class  of  every  section  with  the  dis- " 
cord  and  bitterness  of  hate  which  substitutes  it  to  day.  Then,  the 
national  airs  of  "  Hail  Columbia  "  and  "  Yankee  Doodle  "  thrilled 
home  to  the  heart  of  every  American.  To-day,  they  are  only  heard 
in  one  half  of  the  Union  to  be  cursed  and  execrated.  To  ask  a  lady 
to  play  one  of  these  airs  upon  the  harp  or  piano,  from  the  Rio 
Grande  to  the  Potomac,  would  be  resented  as  an  insult.  The  fame 
of  Washington  and  John  Hancock  mingled  as  the  united  nations; 
but  the  conduct  of  the  sons  of  the  Puritan  fathers  has  stolen  the 
respect  for  them  from  the  heart  of  half  of  the  nation;  and  now, 
even  the  once  glorious  name  of  Daniel  Webster  stirs  no  enthusiasm 
in  the  bosoms  which  once  beat  joyfully  to  his  praise,  as  it  came  to 
them  from  New  England.  Those  who  from  party  purposes  proclaim 
peace  and  good  will,  only  deceive  the  world,  not  themselves,  or  the 
people  of  the  South.  Peace  there  is ;  but  good  will,  none.  When 
asked  to  be  given,  memory  turns  to  the  battle-fields  upon  Southern 
soil,  the  bloody  graves  where  the  chosen  spirits  of  the  South  are 
sleeping,  and  the  heart  burns  with  indignant  hatred.  Generations 
may  come  and  pass  away,  but  this  hatred,  this  cursed  memory  of 
oppressive  wrong  will  live  on.  The  mothers  of  to-day  make  for 
their  infants  a  tradition  of  these  memories,  and  it  will  be  transmitted 
as  the  highlander's  cross  of  fire,  from  clan  to  clan,  in  burning  bright- 
ness, for  a  thousand  years.  The  graveyards  will  no  more  perish  than 
the  legends  of  the  war  that  made  them.  They  are  in  our  midst,  our 
children,  the  kindred  of  all  are  there  —  and  those  who  are  to  come 
will  go  there  —  and  their  mothers,  as  Hamilcar  did,  will  make  them 
upon  these  green  graves  swear  eternal  hatred  to  those  who  with  their 
vengeance  filled  these  sacred  vaults. 

We  are  expected  to  love  those  whose  hands  are  red  with  the  blood 
of  our  children ;  to  take  to  our  bosoms  the  murderers  and  robbers 
who  have  slain  upon  the  soil  of  their  nativity  our  people,  and  who 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


225 


have  robbed  our  homes  and  devastated  our  country ;  who  have  fat- 
tened Southern  soil  with  Southern  blood,  and  enriched  their  homes 
with  the  stolen  wealth  ef  ours.  Are  we  not  men,  and  manly  ?  Do 
we  feel  as  men?  and  is  not  this  insult  to  manliness,  and  a  vile 
mockery  to  the  feelings  of  men?  We  can  never  forget  — we  will 
never  forgive,  and  we  will  wait ;  for  when  the  opportunity  shall 
come,  as  come  it  will,  we  will  avenge  the  damning  wrong. 

This  may  be  unchristian,  but  it  is  natural  —  nature  is  of  God  and 
will  assert  herself.  No  mawkish  pretension,  no  hypocritical  cant, 
can  repress  the  natural  feelings  of  the  heart:  its  loves  and  resentments 
are  its  strongest  passions,  and  the  love  that  we  bore  for  our  children 
and  kindred  kindles  to  greater  vigor  in  the  hatred  we  bear  for  their 
murderers. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

CONGRESS     IN     ITS    BRIGHTEST    DAYS. 

MISSOURI  COMPROMISE— JOHN  RANDOLPH'S  JUBA  —  MR.  MACON — HOLMES  AND 
CRAWFORD  —  MR.  CLAY'S   INFLUENCE — JAMES  BARBOR  —  PHILIP  P.  BAR- 

BOR  —  MR.  PlNCKNEY  —  MR.  BEECHER,  OF  OHIO  —  "  CUCKOO,  CUCKOO !  "  — 

NATIONAL  ROADS  —  WILLIAM  LOWNDES  —  WILLIAM  ROSCOE  —  DUKE   OF 
ARGYLE  —  Louis  MCLEAN  — WHIG  AND  DEMOCRATIC  PARTIES. 

IT  was  at  the  last  session  of  the  fifteenth  Congress,  in  the  winter 
of  1820-21,  when  the  famous  Compromise  measure,  known  as 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  was  effected.  A  portion  of  that  winter 
was  spent  by  ihe  writer  at  Washington.  Congress  was  then  com- 
posed of  the  first  intellects  of  the  nation,  and  the  measure  was  causing 
great  excitement  throughout  the  entire  country. 

Missouri,  in  obedience  to  a  permissory  statute,  had  framed  a  con- 
stitution, and  demanded  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  State.  By 
this  constitution  slavery  was  recognized  as  an  institution  of  the 
State.  Objection  was  made  to  this  clause  on  the  part  of  the  Northern 
members,  which  led  to  protracted  and  sometimes  acrimonious  debate. 
At  the  first  session  of  the  Congress  the  admission  of  the  State  had 
been  postponed,  and  during  the  entire  second  session  it  had  been 

P 


226  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

the  agitating  question ;  nor  was  it  until  the  very  end  of  the  session 
settled  by  this  famous  compromise. 

The  debates  were  conducted  by  the  ablest  men  in  Congress,  in 
both  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Representatives.  In  the  Senate, 
William  Pinckney,  of  Maryland  ;  Rufus  King,  of  New  York ;  Har- 
rison Gray  Otis,  of  Massachusetts ;  James  Barbor,  of  Virginia ;  Wil- 
liam Smith,  of  South  Carolina,  and  Freeman  Walker,  of  Georgia, 
were  most  conspicuous.  In  the  House  were  John  Randolph,  of  Vir- 
ginia; William  Lowndes,  of  South  Carolina ;  Louis  McLean,  of  Dela- 
ware ;  Thomas  W.  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  and  Louis  Williams,  of  North 
Carolina,  and  many  others  of  less  note.  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky, 
was  Speaker  of  the  House  during  the  first  session  of  the  Congress ; 
but  resigned  before  the  meeting  of  the  succeeding  Congress,  and 
John  Taylor,  of  New  York,  was  elected  to  preside  as  Speaker  for  the 
second  session.  Mr.  Clay  was  absent  from  his  seat  during  the  early 
part  of  this  session ;  and  notwithstanding  the  eminent  men  composing 
the  Congress,  there  seemed  a  want  of  some  leading  and  controlling 
mind  to  master  the  difficulty,  and  calm  the  threatening  excitement 
which  was  intensifying  as  the  debate  progressed.  Mr.  Randolph  was 
the  leader  in  the  debates  of  the  House,  and  occupied  the  floor  fre- 
quently in  the  delivery  of  lengthy  and  almost  always  very  interesting 
speeches.  These  touched  every  subject  connected  with  the  Govern- 
ment, its  history,  and  its  powers.  They  were  brilliant  and  beautiful : 
full  of  classical  learning  and  allusion,  and  sparkling  as  a  casket  pf 
diamonds,  thrown  upon,  and  rolling  along,  a  Wilton  carpet.  It 
seemed  to  be  his  pleasure  to  taunt  the  opposition  to  enforce  an  angry 
or  irritable  reply,  and  then  to  launch  the  arrows  of  his  biting  wit 
and  sarcasm  at  whoever  dared  the  response,  in  such  rapid  profusion, 
as  to  astonish  the  House,  and  overwhelm  his  antagonist. 

His  person  was  as  unique  as  his  manner.  He  was  tall  and 
extremely  slender.  His  habit  was  to  wear  an  overcoat  extending  to 
the  floor,  with  an  upright  standing  collar  which  concealed  his  entire 
person  except  his  head,  which  seemed  to  be  set,  by  the  ears,  upon 
the  collar  of  his  coat.  In  early  morning  it  was  his  habit  to  ride  on 
horseteck.  This  ride  was  frequently  extended  to  the  hour  of  the 
meeting  of  Congress.  When  this  was  the  case,  he  always  rode  to 
the  Capitol,  surrendered  his  horse  to  his  groom  —  the  ever-faithful 
Juba,  who  always  accompanied  him  in  these  rides  —  and,  with  his 
ornamental  riding-whip  in  his  hand,  a  small  cloth  or  leathern  cap 


FIFTY    YEARS.  22; 

perched  upon  the  top  of  his  head,  (which  peeped  out,  wan  and 
meagre,  from  between  the  openings  of  his  coat-collar,)  booted  and 
gloved,  he  would  walk  to  his  seat  in  the  House  —  then  in  session  — 
lay  down  upon  his  desk  his  cap  and  whip,  and  then  slowly  remove 
his  gloves.  If  the  matter  before  the  House  interested  him,  and  he 
desired  to  be  heard,  he  would  fix  his  large,  round,  lustrous  black 
eyes  upon  the  Speaker,  and,  in  a  voice  shrill  and  piercing  as  the  cry 
of  a  peacock,  exclaim  :  "  Mr.  Speaker!  "  then,  for  a  moment  or  two, 
remain  looking  down  upon  his  desk,  as  if  to  collect  his  thoughts; 
then  lifting  his  eyes  to  the  Speaker  would  commence,  in  a  conversa- 
tional tone,  an  address  that  not  unfrequently  extended  through  five 
hours,  when  he  would  yield  to  a  motion  for  adjournment,  with  the 
understanding  that  he  was  to  finish  his  speech  the  following  day. 

He  had  but  few  associates.  These  were  all  from  the  South,  and 
very  select.  With  Mr.  Macon,  Mr.  Crawford,  Louis  Williams,  and 
Mr.  Cobb,  he  was  intimate.  He  was  a  frequent  visitor  to  the  family 
of  Mr.  Crawford,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  where  occasionally 
he  met  Macon  and  Cobb,  with  other  friends  of  Crawford.  Macon 
and  Crawford  were  his  models  of  upright  men.  He  believed  Mr. 
Crawford  to  be  the  first  intellect  of  the  age,  and  Mr.  Macon  the 
most  honest  man.  The  strict  honesty  of  Macon  captivated  him,  as 
it  did  most  men.  His  home-spun  ideas,  his  unaffected  plainness  of 
dress,  and  primitive  simplicity  of  manner,  combined  with  a  wonder- 
ful fund  of  common  sense,  went  home  to  the  heart  of  Randolph,  and 
he  loved  Macon  in  sincerity. 

Macon  and  Crawford  humored  his  many  eccentricities,  and  would 
always  deferentially  listen  to  him  when  the  humor  was  on  him  to  talk. 
It  was  at  such  times  that  Randolph  was  most  interesting.  He  had 
read  much,  and  to  great  advantage;  he  had  travelled,  and  with  an 
observant  eye ;  he  knew  more,  and  he  knew  it  more  accurately,  than 
any  other  man  of  his  country,  except,  perhaps,  that  wonderful  man, 
William  Lowndes.  In  his  talking  moods  all  the  store-house  of  his 
information  was  drafted  into  service.  His  command  of  language 
was  wonderful.  The  antithetical  manner  of  expressing  himself  gave 
piquancy  and  vim  to  his  conversation,  making  it  very  captivating. 
He  was  too  impatient,  and  had  too  much  nervous  irritability  and  too 
rapid  a  flow  of  ideas,  to  indulge  in  familiar  and  colloquial  conversa- 
tion. He  would  talk  all,  or  none.  He  inaugurated  a  subject  and 
exhausted  it,  and  there  were  few  who  desired  more  than  to  listen 


228  THE    MEMORIES     OF 

when  he  talked.  Two  or  three  evenings  in  the  week  there  would 
assemble  at  Mr.  Crawford's  a  few  gentlemen,  members  of  Congress. 
This  was  especially  the  case  pending  the  Missouri  question,  when 
Mr.  Randolph,  Mr.  Macon,  Mr.  McLean,  Mr.  Holmes,  of  Maine, 
(a  great  admirer  of  Mr.  Crawford,)  Mr.  Lowndes,  and  sometimes 
one  or  two  gentlemen  from  Pennsylvania,  would  be  present.  At 
these  meetings  this  question  was  the  first  and  principal  topic,  and  Mr. 
Randolph  would  engross  the  entire  conversation  for  an  hour,  when 
he  would  almost  universally  rise,  bid  good-night,  and  leave.  At 
other  times  he  would  listen  attentively,  without  uttering  a  word,  par- 
ticularly when  Crawford  or  Lowndes  were  speaking.  These,  then, 
almost  universally,  did  all  the  talking.  The  diversity  of  opinion 
scarcely  ever  prompted  reply  or  interruption.  In  these  conversa- 
tions the  great  powers  of  Crawford's  mind  would  break  out,  astonish- 
ing and  convincing  every  one. 

It  was  upon  one  of  these  occasions,  when  discussing  in  connection 
with  the  Missouri  question,  the  subject  of  slavery,  its  influences,  and 
its  future,  that  Mr.  Crawford  remarked :  "If  the  Union  is  of  more 
importance  to  the  South  than  slavery,  the  South  should  immediately 
take  measures  for  the  gradual  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  fixing  a 
period  for  its  final  extinction.  But  if  the  institution  of  slavery  is  of 
more  vital  importance  than  the  perpetuation  of  the  Union  to  the 
South,  she  should  at  once  secede  and  establish  a  government  to  pro- 
tect and  preserve  this  institution.  She  now  has  the  power  to  do  so 
without  the  fear  of  provoking  a  war.  Her  people  should  be  unani- 
mous, and  this  agitation  has  made  them  so  —  I  believe.  I  know  the 
love  of  the  Union  has  been  paramount  to  every  other  consideration 
•with  the  Southern  people ;  but  they  view,  as  I  do,  this  attempt  to 
arrest  the  further  spread  of  slavery  as  aggressive  on  the  part  of 
Congress,  and  discover  an  alarming  state  of  the  Northern  mind 
upon  this  subject.  This  with  an  increasing  popular  strength  may 
grow  into  proportions  which  shall  be  irresistible,  and  the  South  may 
be  ultimately  forced  to  do,  what  she  never  will  voluntarily  do  —  abol- 
ish at  once  the  institution."  It  was  urged  by  Mr.  Holmes  that  the 
Constitution  guaranteed  slavery  to  the  States,  that  its  control  and 
destiny  was  alone  with  the  States,  and  there  was  no  danger  that  the 
North  would  ever  violate  the  Constitution  to  interfere  with  what  they 
had  no  interest  in. 

"Never  violate  the  Constitution!"  said  Randolph,  in  an  excited 


FIFTY     YEARS.  229 

and  querulous  tone.  "  Mr.  Holmes,  you  perhaps  know  the  nature 
of  your  people  better  than  I  do.  But  I  know  them  well  enough  not 
to  trust  them.  They  stickle  at  nothing  to  accomplish  an  end  ;  and 
their  preachers  can  soon  convxnce  them  that  slavery  is  a  sin,  and 
that  they  are  responsible  for  its  existence  here,  and  that  they  can 
only  propitiate  offended  Deity  by  its  abolition.  You  are  a  peculiar 
people,  Holmes,  prone  to  fanaticism  upon  all  subjects,  and  this 
fanaticism  concentrated  as  a  religious  duty  —  the  Constitution  will 
only  prove  a  barrier  of  straw.  No,  sir;  I  am  unwilling  to  trust  them. 
They  want  honesty  of  purpose,  have  no  sincerity,  no  patriotism,  no 
principle.  Your  dough-faces  will  profess,  but  at  a  point  will  fly  the 
track,  sir;  they  can't  stand,  sir;  they  can't  stand  pressing.  Interest, 
interest,  sir,  is  their  moving  motive.  Do  you  not  see  it  in  their 
action  in  this  matter  ?  Missouri  is  a  fertile  and  lovely  country ;  they 
want  it  for  the  purpose  of  settlement  with  their  own  people.  Pro- 
hibit slavery  to  the  inhabitants,  and  no  Southern  man  will  go  there; 
there  will  be  no  competition  in  the  purchase  of  her  land.  Your 
people  will  have  it  all  to  themselves;  they  will  flock  to  it  like  wild 
geese,  and  very  soon  it  is  a  Northern  State  in  Northern  interest;  and, 
step  after  step,  all  the  Western  territory  will  be  in  your  possession, 
and  you  will  create  States  ab  libitum.  You  know  the  Constitution 
permits  two-thirds  of  the  States  to  amend  or  alter  it :  establish  the 
principle  that  Congress  can  exclude  slavery  from  a  territory,  contrary 
to  the  wishes  of  her  people  expressed  in  a  constitution  formed  by 
them  for  their  government,  and  how  long  will  it  be,  before  two-thirds 
of  the  States  will  be  free?  Then  you  can  change  the  Constitution 
and  place  slavery  under  the  control  of  Congress  —  and,  under  such 
circumstances,  how  long  will  it  be  permitted  to  remain  in  any 
State  ? 

"Your  people  are  too  religious,  sir;  eminently  practical,  inventive, 
restless,  cold,  calculating,  malicious,  and  ambitious;  invent  curious 
rat-traps,  and  establish  missions.  I  don  't  want  to  be  trapped,  sir ; 
I  am  too  wary  a  rat  for  that ;  and  think  with  Mr.  Crawford,  now  is 
the  time  for  separation,  and  I  mean  to  ask  Clay  to  unite  with  us. 
Yet,  sir,  I  have  not  spoken  to  the  fellow  for  years,  sir ;  but  I  will 
to-morrow  ;  I  will  tell  him  I  always  despised  him,  but  if  he  will  go 
to  his  people,  I  will  to  mine,  and  tell  them  now  is  the  time  for  sepa- 
ration from  you ;  and  I  will  follow  his  lead  if  he  will  only  do  so,  if 
it  leads  me  to  perdition.  I  never  did  follow  it,  but' in  this  matter  I 


230  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

will.  I  bid  you  good  night,  gentlemen."  He  waited  for  no  reply, 
but  taking  his  hat  and  whip,  hurriedly  left  the  room. 

"  Can  Mr.  Randolph  be  in  earnest?  "  asked  several. 

"  Intensely  so,"  replied  Mr.  Crawford.  "  Mr.  Holmes,  your  peo- 
ple are  forcing  Mr.  Randolph's  opinions  upon  the  entire  South.  They 
will  not  permit  Northern  intermeddling  with  that  which  peculiarly 
interests  themselves,  and  over  which  they  alone  hold  control." 

There  was  a  pause,  the  party  was  uneasy.  There  were  more  than 
Mr.  Holmes  present  who  were  startled  at  both  Crawford's  and  Ran- 
dolph's speculation  as  to  the  value  of  the  Union.  They  had  ever 
felt  that  this  was  anchored  safely  in  every  American  breast,  and  was 
paramount  to  every  other  consideration  or  interest.  It  was  a  terrible 
heresy,  and  leading  to  treason.  This  was  not  said,  but  it  was  thought, 
and  in  no  very  agreeable  mood  the  party  separated  for  the  night. 

Mr.  Clay  had  just  arrived  from  Kentucky.  There  had  been  many 
speculations  as  to  what  course  he  would  pursue  in  this  delicate  mat- 
ter. Many  had  suspended  their  opinions  awaiting  his  action.  The 
members  from  Ohio  were  generally  acting  and  voting  with  those  of 
the  East  and  North.  Some  seemed  doubtful,  and  it  was  supposed 
Mr.  Clay  would  exercise  great  influence  with  all  the  West,  and  those 
from  Ohio,  especially.  Hence,  his  coming  was  universally  and 
anxiously  awaited.  But  now  he  was  in  Washington,  all  were  on  the 
qui  vive. 

Randolph's  declaration  was  whispered  about  in  the  morning,  and 
little  coteries  were  grouped  about  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. Randolph  was  in  conversation,  near  the  Speaker's  chair,  with  the 
clerk,  who  was  pointing  and  calling  his  attention  to  something  upon 
the  journal  of  the  House.  The  hour  of  meeting  was  at  hand,  and 
the  crowd  was  increasing  upon  the  floor.  Mr.  Taylor  was  in  conver- 
sation, near  the  fire-place,  on  the  left  of  the  Speaker's  chair,  with 
Stratford  Canning,  the  British  Plenipotentiary,  Harrison  Gray  Otis, 
and  Governor  Chittenden,  of  Vermont.  Mr.  Clay  entered  in  com- 
pany with  William  S.  Archer,  a  man  whose  only  merit  and  sole  pride 
was  the  having  been  born  in  Virginia ;  whose  pusillanimous  arro- 
gance was  only  equalled  by  the  poverty  of  his  intellect,  and  who 
always  foisted  himself  upon  the  presence  of  eminent  men,  deeming 
he  was  great  because  of  his  impudence  and  their  association.  AH 
eyes  were  turned  to  Clay,  and  the  members  flocked  about  him. 
Releasing  himself  from  these  he  came  up  the  aisle  toward  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  231 

Speaker's  chair.  Mr.  Randolph  stepped  into  the  aisle  immediately 
in  front  of  the  chair.  At  this  moment  Clay  discovered  him  and, 
towering  to  his  full  height,  paused  within  a  few  feet  of  him  whose 
eye  he  saw  fixed  upon  his  own. 

Randolph  advanced  and,  without  extending  his  hand,  said : 
"Good  morning,  Mr.  Clay."  Clay  bowed,  and  Randolph  imme- 
diately said  :  "  I  have  'a  duty  to  perform  to  my  country;  so  have 
you,  Mr.  Clay.  Leave  your  seat  here,  sir,  and  return  to  your  people, 
as  I  will  to  mine.  Tell  them,  as  I  will  mine,  that  the  time  has  come: 
if  they  would  save  themselves  from  ruin,  and  preserve  the  liberties 
for  which  their  fathers  bled,  they  must  separate  from  these  men  of 
the  North.  Do  so,  sir;  and,  though  I  never  did  before,  I  will  follow 
your  lead  in  the  effort  to  save  our  people,  and  their  liberties."  Mr. 
Clay  listened,  and  without  apparent  surprise  remarked,  with  a  smile : 
"  Mr.  Randolph,  that  will  require  more  reflection  than  this  moment 
of  time  affords,"  and  bowing  passed  on. 

'But  a  bomb  had  fallen  on  the  floor,  and  consternation  was  on 
every  face.  All  turned  to  Mr.  Clay.  All  saw  a  crisis  was  at  hand, 
and  that  this  matter  must  be  settled  as  speedily  as  possible.  Archer 
filed  off  with  Randolph,  who  affected  to  pet  him,  as  some  men  do 
foils  for  their  wit,  in  the  person  of  a  toady. 

A  few  days  after  this  occurrence  the  famous  Compromise  measure 
was  reported,  and  the  first  speech  I  ever  listened  to  from  Mr.  Clay  was 
in  its  advocacy.  About  him  was  gathered  the  talent  of  the  Senate 
and  the  House.  The  lobbies  and  galleries  were  filled  to  overflow- 
ing. Mr.  Pinckney,  of  Maryland  ;  Landman,  of  Connecticut ;  Rufus 
King,  William  Lowndes,  Otis,  Holmes,  Macon,  and  others,  all  mani- 
fested intense  interest  in  the  speech  of  Mr.  Clay.  How  grandly 
he  towered  up  over  those  seated  about  him  !  Dressed  in  a  full 
suit  of  black,  his  hair  combed  closely  down  to  his  head,  display- 
ing its  magnificent  proportions,  with  his  piercing,  gray  eyes  fixed 
upon  those  of  the  Speaker,  he  poured  out,  in  fervid  words,  the  wis- 
dom of  his  wonderful  mind,  and  the  deep  feelings  of  his  great  heart. 
All  accorded  to  him  sincerity  and  exalted  patriotism;  all  knew  and 
confided  in  his  wisdom  ;  all  knew  him  to  be  a  national  man,  and  into 
the  hearts  of  all  his  words  sank  deep,  carrying  conviction,  and  calm- 
ing the  storm  of  angry  passions  which  threatened  not  only  the  peace, 
but  the  existence  of  the  Government.  All  the  majesty  of  his  nature 
seemed  as  a  halo  emanating  from  his  person  and  features,  as,  turning 


232  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

to  those  grouped  about  him,  and  then  to  the  House,  his  words,  warm 
and  persuasive,  flowing  as  a  stream  of  melody,  with  his  hand  lifted 
from  his  desk,  he  said  : 

"  I  wish  that  my  country  should  be  prosperous,  and  her  Govern- 
ment perpetual.  I  am  in  my  soul  assured  that  no  other  can  ever 
afford  the  same  protection  to  human  liberty,  and  insure  the  same 
amount.  Leave  the  North  to  her  laws  and  her  institutions.  Extend 
the  same  conciliating  charity  to  the  South  and  West.  Their  people, 
as  yours,  know  best  their  wants  —  know  best  their  interests.  Let 
them  provide  for  their  own — our  system  is  one  of  compromises — and 
in  the  spirit  of  harmony  come  together,  in  the  spirit  of  brothers 
compromise  any  and  every  jarring  sentiment  or  interest  which  may 
arise  in  the  progress  of  the  country.  There  is  security  in  this  ;  there 
is  peace,  and  fraternal  union.  Thus  we  may,  we  shall,  go  on  to 
cover  this  entire  continent  with  prosperous  States,  and  a  contented, 
self-governed,  and  happy  people.  To  the  unrestrained  energies  of 
an  intelligent  and  enterprising  people,  the  mountains  shall  yield 
their  mineral  tribute,  the  valleys  their  cereals  and  fruits,  and  a  mil- 
lion of  millions  of  contented  and  prosperous  people  shall  demon- 
strate to  an  admiring  world  the  great  problem  that  man  is  capable  of 
self-government. ' ' 

There  beamed  from  every  countenance  a  pleased  satisfaction,  as 
the  members  of  the  Senate  and  the  House  came  up  to  express  their 
delight,  and  their  determination  to  support  the  measure  proposed, 
and  so  ably  advocated.  There  was  oil  upon  the  waters,  and  the  tur- 
bulent waves  went  down.  Men  who  had  been  estranged  and  angered 
for  many  months,  met,  and  with  friendly  smiles  greeted  each  other 
again.  The  ladies  in  the  gallery  above  rose  up  as  if  by  a  common 
impulse,  to  look  down,  with  smiles,  upon  the  great  commoner.  One 
whose  silvered  hair,  parted  smoothly  and  modestly  upon  her  aged 
forehead,  fell  in  two  massy  folds  behind  her  ears,  clasped  her  hands, 
and  audibly  uttered:  "God  bless  him." 

The  reconciliation  seemed  to  be  effected,  and  the  confidence  and 
affection  between  the  sections  to  be  renewed  with  increased  fervor 
and  intensity.  There  was  rejoicing  throughout  the  land.  Dissatis- 
faction only  spake  from  the  pulpits  of  New  England,  and  there  only 
from  those  of  the  Puritan  Congregational ists.  But  the  public  heart 
had  received  a  shock,  and  though  it  beat  on,  it  was  not  with  the 
healthful  tone  of  former  days. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  233 

The  men  of  the  Revolution  were  rapidjy  passing  to  eternity.  The 
cement  of  blood  which  bound  these  as  one  was  dissolving,  and  the 
fabric  of  their  creation  was  undermined  in  the  hearts  of  the  people, 
with  corroding  prejudices,  actively  fomented  by  the  bigotry  of  a 
selfish  superstition.  A  sectional  struggle  for  supremacy  had  com- 
menced. The  control  of  the  Government  was  the  aim,  and  patriot- 
ism was  consuming  in  the  flame  of  ambition.  The  Government's 
security,  the  Government's  perpetuity,  and  the  common  good,  were 
no  longer  prime  considerations.  All  its  demonstrated  blessings  had 
remained  as  ever  the  same.  Stimulated  by  the  same  motives  and  the 
same  ambitions,  the  new  world  and  the  new  Government  were 
moving  in  the  old  groove;  and  the  old  world  saw  repeating  here  the 
history  of  all  the  Governments  which  had  arisen,  lived,  and  passed 
away,  in  her  own  borders.  The  mighty  genius  of  Clay  and  Webster, 
of  Jackson  and  Calhoun,  had,  for  a  time,  stayed  the  rapid  progress 
of  ruin  which  had  begun  to  show  itself,  but  only  for  a  time.  They 
have  been  gathered  to  their  fathers,  and  the  controlling  influence  of 
their  mighty  minds  being  removed,  confusion,  war,  and  ruin  have 
followed. 

The  men  conspicuous  in  the  debates  on  the  Missouri  question  were 
giants  in  intellect,  and  perhaps  few  deliberative  assemblies  of  the 
world  ever  contained  more  talent,  or  more  public  virtue.  At  the 
head  of  these  stood  Henry  Clay,  Pinckney,  Rufus  King,  William 
Lowndes,  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  William  Smith,  Louis  McLean,  the 
two  Barbors,  John  Randolph,  Freeman  Walker,  Thomas  W.  Cobb, 
and  John  Holmes,  of  Maine. 

James  Barbor  was  a  member  of  the  Senate ;  Philip  P.  Barbor,  of 
the  House.  They  were  brothers,  and  both  from  Virginia.  They 
were  both  men  of  great  abilities,  but  their  style  and  manner  were 
very  different.  James  was  a  verbose  and  ornate  declaimer ;  Philip 
was  a  close,  cogent  reasoner,  without  any  attempt  at  elegance  or  dis- 
play. He  labored  to  convince  the  mind*;  James,  to  control  and 
direct  the  feelings.  A  wag  wrote  upon  the  wall  of  the  House,  at  the 
conclusion  of  a  masterly  argument  of  Philip  P.  Barbor, 

"  Two  Barbers  to  shave  our  Congress  long  did  try. 
One  shaves  with  froth;  the  other  shaves  dry." 

Of  the  Senate  Mr.  Pinkney  was  th^  great  orator.    His  speech  upon 
this  most  exciting  question  has  ever  been  considered  the  most  fin- 
20* 


234  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

ished  for  eloquence  and  power,  ever  delivered  in  the  United  States 
Senate.  The  effect  upon  the  Senate,  and  the  audience  assembled  in 
the  galleries  and  lobbies  of  the  Senate,  was  thrilling.  Mr.  King  was 
old,  but  retained  in  their  vigor  his  faculties,  was  more  tame  perhaps 
than  in  his  younger  years ;  still  the  clearness  and  brilliancy  of  his 
pow'erful  mind  manifested  itself  in  his  every  effort.  Mr.  Pinkney 
had  all  the  advantages  which  a  fine  manly  person  and  clear,  musical 
voice  gives  to  an  orator.  He  spoke  but  rarely  and  never  without  great 
preparation.  He  was  by  no  means  a  ready  debater,  and  prized  too 
much  his  reputation  to  hazard  anything  in  an  impromptu,  extempo- 
raneous address.  He  listened,  for  weeks,  to  King,  Otis,  and  others 
who  debated  the  question,  and  came  at  last  prepared  in  one  great 
effort  to  answer  and  demolish  the  arguments  of  these  men.  Those 
who  listened  to  that  wonderful  effort  of  forensic  power  will  never 
forget  his  reply  to  King,  when  he  charged  him  with  uttering  senti- 
ments in  debate  calculated  to  incite  a  servile  war.  The  picture  he 
drew  of  such  a  war :  the  massacring  by  infuriated  black  savages 
of  delicate  women  and  children  ;  the  burning  and  destroying  of 
cities ;  the  desolating  by  fire  and  sword  the  country,  was  so  thrilling 
and  descriptively  perfect,  that  you  smelt  the  blood,  saw  the  flames, 
and  heard  the  shrieks  of  perishing  victims.  Mr.  King  shuddered 
as  he  looked  on  the  orator,  and  listened  to  his  impassioned  decla- 
mation. But  when  Pinkney  turned  from  the  President  of  the  Senate 
and,  flashing  his  eye  upon  King,  continued  in  words  hissing  in  whis- 
pers, full  of  pathos  as  of  biting  indignation>  Mr.  King  folded  his 
arms  and  rested  his  head  upon  them,  concealing  his  features  and 
emotion  from  the  speaker  and  the  Senate.  For  two  hours  the  Senate 
and  galleries  were  chained  as  it  were  to  their  seats.  At  times  so 
intense  was  the  feeling,  that  a  pause  of  the  speaker  made  audible  the 
hard  and  excited  breathing  of  the  audience,  catching  their  breath  as 
though  respiration  had  been  painfully  suspended  and  relief  had  come 
in  this  pause.  When  he  had  finished  and  resumed  his  seat,  there 
was  profound  silence  for  many  seconds,  when  a  Senator  in  seeming 
trepidation  rose  and  moved  an  adjournment. 

Mr.  Pinkney  was  in  every  respect  a  most  finished  gentleman,  highly 
bred,  only  associating  with  the  first  men  and  minds  of  the  country ; 
courteous  and  polished  in  his  manners,  and  scrupulously  neat  in  his 
dress,  which  was  always  in  the  height  of  fashion  and  always  of  the 
finest  and  most  costly  materials.  He  never  came  to  the  Senate  but 


FIFTY   YEARS.  235 

in  full  dress,  and  would  have  beep  mortified  to  find  a  mite  of  lint 
upon  his  coat,  or  a  dash  of  dust  upon  his  boots. 

At  that  time  the  United  States  Senate  was  the  most  august  and 
dignified  body  in  the  world.  What  is  it  to-day  ?  O  tempora,  O  mores  ! 
In  the  House,  the  palm  of  oratory  was  disputed  between  Mr.  Clay 
and  Mr.  Randolph.  Their  styles  were  so  different,  and  both  so 
effective,  that  it  was  difficult  to  distinguish  by  comparison,  to  which 
belonged  the  distinction  of  being  first.  Mr.  Clay  was  always  col- 
lected and  self-possessed  —  he  was,  too,  always  master  of  his  subject; 
and  though  he  was  a  ready  debater,  he  never  made  a  set  speech  upon 
any  important  subject  without  careful  preparation.  He  was  not  easily 
disconcerted ;  courageous,  with  a  strong  will,  he  feared  no  intemperate 
opposition,  and  was  never  restrained  from  uttering  his  sentiments  and 
opinions  of  men  or  measures.  He  was  kind  and  generous,  until 
aroused  or  offended  and,  then,  was  merciless.  His  sarcasm  and 
invective  upon  such  occasions  was  withering,  and  his  vehemence 
daring  and  terrible.  No  man  of  his  day  had  a  mind  better  bal- 
anced than  Mr.  Clay.  His  judgment  was  almost  always  correct;  his 
imagination  brilliant,  but  always  under  the  control  of  his  judg- 
ment; his  memory  and  preceptive  faculties  were  wonderful;  his  edu- 
cation was  defective,  and  the  associations  of  the  West  had  not  given 
that  polish  to  his  manners  which  distinguishes  men  of  education, 
reared  in  educated  communities,  and  associating  always  with  polished 
society.  Mr.  Clay  had  been  at  the  most  polished  courts  of  Europe, 
and  was  familiar  with  their  most  refined  society ;  but  these  he  visited 
in  mature  life,  after  the  manners  are  formed,  and  habit  made  them 
indurate.  He  had  long  been  familiar,  too,  with  the  best  society  in 
his  own  country  and,  by  this,  had  been  much  improved.  Still  the 
Kentuckian  would  sometimes  come  through  the  shell,  but  always  in 
a  manner  more  to  delight  than  offend ;  besides,  Mr.  Clay  set  little 
value  upon  forms  and  ceremony.  There  was  too  much  heart  for 
such  cold  seeming,  too  much  fire  for  the  chill,  unfeeling  ceremony 
of  what  is  termed  first  society. 

Mr.  Clay's  manners  partook  much  of  the  character  of  his  mind 
and  soul.  They  were  prompt,  bold,  and  easy ;  his  eloquence  was 
bold,  rough,  and  overwhelming. 

Like  all  men  of  genius.,  will,  and  self-reliance,  Mr.  Clay  was 
impatient  of  contradiction.  The  similarity  in  this  regard,  between 
Jackson,  Clay,  and  Crawford  was  wonderful.  They  were  equally 


236  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

passionate,  equally  impetuous,  and   equally  impatient  '• —  all   being 
natural  men  of  great  powers  and  limited  education.     To  say  they 
.  were  self-made,  would  be  paying  the  Almighty  a  left-handed  com- 
'  pliment.     But  to  say  they  assiduously  cultivated  His  great  gifts  with- 
out much  aid  from  the  schoolmaster,  would  only  be  doing  them 
unbiased  justice. 

Randolph  was  clasically  educated.  He  had  enjoyed  every  advan- 
tage of  cultivation.  Socially,  he  had  never  mingled  with  any  but 
refined  society.  The  franchise  of  suffrage  in  Virginia  was  confined 
to  the  freeholders,  thus  obviating  in  the  public  man  the  necessity  of 
mingling  with,  and  courting  the  good  opinion  of  the  multitude.  The 
system,  too,  of  electioneering  was  to  address  from  the  hustings  the 
voters,  to  declare  publicly  the  opinions  of  candidates,  and  the  pol- 
icy they  proposed  supporting.  The  vote  was  given  viva  voce.  All 
concurred  to  make  representative  and  constituent  frank  and  honest. 
While  this  system  existed,  Virginia  ruled  the  nation.  These  means 
secured  the  services  of  the  first  intellects,  and  the  first  characters  of 
her  people.  The  system  was  a  training  for  debate  and  public  dis- 
play. Eloquence  became  the  first  requisite  to  the  candidate,  and 
was  the  most  powerful  means  of  influence  and  efficiency  in  the  rep- 
resentative. Randolph  had  been  thus  trained ;  he  had  listened  to, 
and  been  instructed  by  the  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry,  in  his  early 
youth,  and  in  later  life  had  met  him  as  a  competitor  on  the  hustings. 
He  had  grown  up  by  the  side  of  Edmonds,  Peyton  Randolph, 
George  Mason,  and  Thomas  Jefferson.  In  his  very  youth  he  had 
excited  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  these  great  minds.  He  was 
sent  into  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  almost  before  he  was 
qualified  by  age  to  take  his  seat ;  and  at  once  took  position  by  the 
side  of  such  men  as  William  B.  Giles,  William  H.  Crawford,  James 
A.  Byard,  and  Littleton  W.  Tazwell.  His  style  of  speaking  was  pecu- 
liar; his  wit  was  bitter  and  biting;  his  sarcasm  more  pungent  and 
withering  than  had  ever  been  heard  on  the  floor  of  Congress ;  his 
figure  was  outre;  his  voice,  fine  as  the  treble  of  a  violin ;  his  face, 
wan,  wrinkled,  and  without  beard ;  his  limbs,  long  and  unsightly, 
especially  his  arms  and  fingers;  the  skin  seemed  to  grow  to  the 
attenuated  bone ;  and  the  large,  ill-formed  joints  were  extremely 
ugly.  But  those  fingers,  and  especially  the  right  fore-finger,  gave 
point  and  vim  to  his  wit  and  invective. 

In  his  manner  he  was  at  times  deliberate,  and  apparently  very 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


237 


considerate,  and  again  he  was  rapid  and  vehement.  When  he  would 
demolish  an  adversary,  he  would  commence  slowly,  as  if  to  collect 
all  his  powers,  preparatory  to  one  great  onset.  He  would  turn  and 
talk,  as  it  were,  to  all  about  him,  and  seemingly  incongruously.  It 
'rwas  as  if  he  was  slinging  and  whirling  his  chain-shot  about  his  head, 
and  circling  it  more  and  more  rapidly,  to  collect  all  his  strength  for 
the  fatal  blow.  All  knew  it  would  fall,  but  none  knew  where,  until 
he  had  collected  his  utmost  strength,  and  then,  with  the  electrical 
flash  of  his  eye,  he  would  mark  the  victim,  and  the  thundering  crash 
of  his  vengeance,  in  words  of  vehemence,  charged  with  the  most 
caustic  satire,  would  fall  upon,  and  crush  the  devoted  head  of  his 
scarce  suspecting  foe.  I  remember,  upon  one  occasion,  pending  the 
debate  upon  the  Missouri  question,  and  when  Mr.  Randolph  was  in 
the  habit  of  almost  daily  addressing  the  house,  that  a  Mr.  Beecher, 
of  Ohio,  who  was  very  impatient  with  Randolph's  tirades,  would,  in 
the  lengthy  pauses  made  by  him,  rise  from  his  place,  and  move  the 
previous  question.  The  Speaker  would  reply:  "The  member  from 
Virginia  has  the  floor."  The  first  and  second  interruption  was  not 
noticed  by  Randolph,  but  upon  the  repetition  a  third  time,  he  slowly 
lifted  his  head  from  contemplating  his  notes,  and  said:  "Mr. 
Speaker,  in  the  Netherlands,  a  man  of  small  capacity,  with  bits  of 
wood  and  leather,  will,  in  a  few  moments,  construct  a  toy  that,  with 
the  pressure  of  the  finger  and  thumb,  will  cry  '  Cuckoo  !  Cuckoo  ! ' 
With  less  of  ingenuity,  and  with  inferior  materials,  the  people  of 
Ohio  have  made  a  toy  that  will,  without  much  pressure,  cry,  '  Pre- 
vious question,  Mr.  Speaker!  Previous  question,  Mr.  Speaker! '  " 
at  the  same  time  designating  Beecher,  by  pointing  at  him  with  his 
long,  skeleton-looking  finger.  In  a  moment  the  House  was  con- 
vulsed with  laughter,  and  I  doubt  if  Beecher  ever  survived  the 
sarcasm. 

At  the  time  Mr.  Clay  came  into  Congress,  Randolph  had  no  rival 
upon  the  floor  of  the  House.  He  had  become  a  terror  to  timid  men. 
Few  ventured  to  meet  htm  in  debate,  and  none  to  provoke  him.  Mr. 
Clay's  reputation  had  preceded  him.  He  had  before,  for  a  short 
time,  been  in  the  Senate.  He  was  known  to  be  the  first  orator  in 
the  West,  and  the  West  boasted  Doddridge,  Humphrey  Marshall, 
John  Rowan,  Jesse  Bledsoe,  John  Pope,  and  Felix  Grundy. 

It  was  not  long,  before  these  two  met  in  debate  upon  the  subject 
of  the  national  road.  Randolph  opposed  this  measure  as  unconsti- 


338  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

tutional,  denying  to  the  General  Government  any  power  to  make 
any  improvements  within  the  limits  of  any  State,  without  the  consent 
of  the  State.  Mr.  Clay  claimed  the  power  tinder  that  grant  which 
constituted  Congress  competent  to  establish  post-offices  and  post- 
roads.  The  discussion  was  an  excited  one.  Mr.  Clay  was  a  Vir- 
ginian, but  not  of  Randolph's  class;  besides,  he  was  not  now  from 
Virginia,  and  Randolph  chose  to  designate  him  a  degenerate,  rene- 
gade son  of  the  Old  Dominion.  He  had  been  reared,  as  Randolph, 
a  Democrat  of  the  Jeffersonian  school.  In  this  he  was  an  apostate 
from  the  ancient  faith.  Randolph  fully  expected  an  easy  victory, 
and  no  man  upon  the  floor  was  more  surprised  than  himself,  at  the 
bold,  eloquent,  and  defiant  reply  of  Clay.  Between  them  the  com- 
bat was  fierce  and  protracted.  Randolph  had  the  mortification  of 
seeing  Western  Virginia  moving  with  Clay,  and  the  entire  represen- 
tation of  the  Western  States  joining  with  them.  Clay  was  triumphant. 
The  measure  became  a  law,  the  road  was  built,  and  a  monument  was 
erected  to  Mr.  Clay  in  Western  Virginia,  and  by  Virginians.  It 
stands  in  a  beautiful  valley,  immediately  on  the  road's  side.  From 
that  time  until,  as  old  men,  they  met  in  mortal  combat  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Potomac,  they  were  rivals  and  enemies. 

Randolph  was  rancorous  in  his  hatred  of  Clay.  In  proportion  as 
Clay  rose  in  the  estimation  of  his  countrymen,  did  Randolph's  hate 
increase.  Clay  sprang  from  the  plebeian  stock  of  his  native  Virginia. 
He  had  come  as  the  representative  of  the  rustics  of  Kentucky.  He 
was  not  sanctified  by  a  college  diploma.  He  boasted  no  long  line 
of  ancestry,  and  yet  he  had  met,  and  triumphed  over,  the  scion  of  a 
boasted  line  —  had  bearded  the  aristocrat  upon  the  field  of  his  fame, 
and  vanquished  him.  This  triumph  was  followed  up,  in  quick  suc- 
cession, with  many  others.  He  was  now  the  cynosure  of  the  nation, 
and  the  star  of  Randolph  was  waning.  His  disregard  of  Randolph's 
proposition,  to  withdraw  from  Congress  and  denounce  the  Union, 
and  his  success  in  effecting  this  compromise,  sublimated  Randolph's 
hatred,  and  no  opportunity  was  permitted  to  pass  unimproved  for 
abuse  of  him  as  a  politician,  and  as  a  man. 

William  Lowndes,  after  Clay,  exercised  more  influence  in  the 
House  than  any  other  man.  He  was  a  South  Carolinian,  and  of  dis- 
tinguished family.  His  health,  at  this  time,  was  failing:  it  had 
always  been  delicate.  Mr.  Lowndes  was  comparatively  a  young 
man.  He  was  remarkably  tall :  perhaps  six  feet  six  inches.  He 


FIFTY     YEARS.  239 

stood  a  head  and  shoulders  above  any  man  in  Congress.  His  hair 
was  golden ;  his  complexion,  clear  and  pale,  and  his  eyes  were  deep 
blue,  and  very  expressive.  He  had  been  elaborately  educated,  and 
improved  by  foreign  travel,  extensive  reading,  and  research.  As  a 
belles-lettres  scholar,  he  was  superior  even  to  Mr.  Randolph.  Very 
retiring  and  modest  in  his  demeanor,  he  rarely  obtruded  himself  upon 
the  House.  When  he  did,  it  seemed  only  to  remind  the  House  of 
something  which  had  been  forgotten  by  his  predecessors  in  debate. 
Sometimes  he  would  make  a  set  speech.  When  he  did,  it  was  always 
remarkable  for  profound  reasoning,  and  profound  thought.  He  was 
suffering  with  disease  of  the  lungs,  and  his  voice  was  weak :  so  much 
so  that  he  never  attempted  to  elevate  it  above  a  conversational  tone. 
So  honest  was  he  in  his  views,  so  learned  and  so  unobtrusive,  that  he 
had  witched  away  the  heart  of  the  House.  No  man  was  so  earnestly 
listened  to  as  Mr.  Lowndes.  His  mild  and  persuasive  manner,  his 
refined  and  delicate  deportment  in  debate  and  social  intercourse  cap- 
tivated every  one ;  and  at  a  time  when  acrimonious  feelings  filled 
almost  every  breast,  there  was  no  animosity  for  Mr.  Lowndes.  His 
impression  upon  the  nation  had  made  him  the  favored  candidate 
of  every  section  for  the  next  President ;  and  it  is  not,  perhaps,  saying 
too  much,  that  had  his  life  been  spared,  he,  and  not  John  Quincy 
Adams,  would  have  been  the  President  in  1824.  He  would  have 
been  to  all  an  acceptable  candidate.  His  talents,  his  virtues,  his 
learning,  and  his  broad  patriotism  vhad  very  much  endeared  him  to 
the  intelligence  of  the  country.  At  that  time  these  attributes  were 
expected  in  the  President,  and  none  were  >acceptable  without  them. 
Mr.  Lowndes  in  very  early  life  gave  evidence  of  future  usefulness 
and  distinction.  His  thirst  for  knowledge,  intense  application,  and 
great  capacity  to  acquire,  made  him  conspicuous  at  school,  and  in 
college.  He  entered  manhood  already  distinguished  by  his  writings. 
While  yet  very  young  he  travelled  in  Europe,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
mental  improvment.  Knowledge  was  the  wife  of  his  heart,  and  he 
courted  her  with  affectionate  assiduity.  An  anecdote  is  related  of  him 
illustrative  of  his  character  and  attainments.  While  in  London,  he 
was  left  alone  at  his  hotel,  where  none  but  men  of  rank  and  distinc- 
tion visited,  with  a  gentleman  much  his  senior;  neither  knew  the 
other.  A  social  instinct,  (though  not  very  prominent  in  an  Eng- 
lishman,) induced  conversation.  After  a  time  the  gentleman  left  the 
apartment  and  was  returning  to  the  street,  when  he  encountered  the 


240  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

Duke  of  Argyle.  This  gentleman  was  William  Roscoe,  of  Liver- 
pool, and  author  of  "  The  Life  of  Leo  the  Tenth." 

"I  have  been  spending  a  most  agreeable  hour,"  he  said  to  the 
Duke,  "  with  a  young  American  gentleman,  who  is  the  tallest,  wisest, 
and  best  bred  young  man  I  have  ever  met." 

"It  must  have  been  Mr.  Lowndes,  of  South  Carolina,"  replied  the 
Duke.  "  He  is  such  a  man,  I  know  him  and  I  know  no  other  like 
him.  Return  and  let  me  make  you  his  acquaintance."  He  did  so, 
and  the  acquaintance  then  commenced,  ripened  into  a  friendship 
which  endured  so  long  as  they  both  lived. 

Blue  eyes,  of  a  peculiar  languid  expression ;  yellow  hair,  lank  and 
without  gloss ;  with  a  soft  sunny  sort  of  complexion,  seems  ever  to 
indicate  physical  weakness.  Indeed,  pale  colors  in  all  nature  point 
to  brief  existence,  want  of  stamina  and  capacity  to  endure.  All  of 
these  combined  in  the  physical  organization  of  Mr.  Lowndes,  and 
served  to  make  more  conspicuous  the  brilliancy  of  his  intellect.  It 
has  been  said,  consumption  sublimates  the  mind,  stealing  from  the 
body,  etherealizing  and  intensifying  the  intellect.  This  was  pecu- 
liarly the  case  in  the  instance  of  Mr.  Lowndes.  As  the  disease  pro- 
gressed, attenuating  and  debilitating  the  physical  man,  his  intellectual 
faculties  grew  brighter,  and  brighter,  assuming  a  lucidity  almost 
supernatural.  At  length  he  passed  from  time  while  yet  young,  leav- 
ing a  vacuum  which  in  South  Carolina  has  never  been  filled.  His 
death  was  at  a  time  his  services  were  most  needed,  and  as  with  Clay, 
Jackson,  and  Webster,  his  death  was  a  national  calamity. 

Conspicuous  among  the  remarkable  men  of  that  era  was  Louis 
McLean,  of  Delaware.  He  belonged  to  the  Republican  school  of 
politics,  and  was  a  very  honest  and  able  man.  He  combined  very 
many  most  estimable  traits  in  his  character  ;  open  and  frank,  with- 
out concealment ;  cheerful  and  mild,  without  bitterness,  and  with  as 
few  prejudices  as  any  public  man.  Yet  he  was  consistent  and  firm 
in  his  political  opinions  and  principles,  as  he  was  devoted  and  tena- 
cious in  his  friendships.  He  was  extremely  considerate  of  the  feed- 
ings and  prejudices  of  other  people  —  had  a  large  stock  of  charity 
for  the  foibles  and  follies  of  his  friends  and  political  antagonists.  In 
social  intercourse  he  was  quite  as  familiar  and  intimate  with  these  as 
with  his  political  friends.  Difference  of  political  principles  did  not 
close  his  eyes  to  the  virtues  and  worth  of  any  man,  and  his  respect 
for  talent  and  uprightness  was  always  manifest  in  his  public  and  pri- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  241 

vate  intercourse  with  those  who  differed  with  him  in  opinion.  His 
was  a  happy  constitution,  and  one  well  fitted  to  win  him  friends 
Personally,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Lowndes,  he  was  perhaps  the 
most  popular  man  upon  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
The  influence  of  his  character  and  talent  was  very  great,  and  his 
geographical  position  added  greatly  to  these  in  his  efforts  upon  the 
Missouri  question.  His  speech  was  widely  read,  and  no  one  found 
fault  with  it.  It  was  a  masterly  effort  and  added  greatly  to  his 
extended  fame. 

In  the  character  of  Mr.  McLean  there  was  a  very  happy  combina- 
tion of  gentleness  with  firmness.  He  carried  this  into  his  family,  and 
its  influence  has  made  of  his  children  a  monument  to  his  fame ;  they 
have  distinguished,  in  their  characters  and  conduct,  the  name  and  the 
virtues  of  their  father.  It  may  be  said  of  him  what  cannot  be  said 
of  many  distinguished  men,  his  children  were  equal  to  the  father  in 
talent,  usefulness,  and  virtue. 

The  Administration  of  Mr.  Monroe  saw  expire  the  Federal  and 
Republican  parties,  as  organized  under  the  Administration  of  John 
Adams.  It  saw  also  the  germ  of  the  Democratic  and  Whig  parties 
planted.  It  was  a  prosperous  Administration,  and  under  it  the  nation 
flourished  like  a  green  bay-tree.  He  was  the  last  of  the  Presidents 
who  had  actively  participated  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  To 
other  virtues  and  different  merits,  those  who  now  aspire  to  the  high 
distinction  of  the  Presidency  must  owe  their  success.  There  must 
always  be  a  cause  for  distinction.  However  great  the  abilities  of  a 
man  or  exalted  his  virtues,  he  must  in  some  manner  make  a  display 
of  them  before  the  public  eye,  or  he  must  of  necessity  remain  in 
obscurity.  War  developes  more  rapidly  and  more  conspicuously  the 
abilities  of  men  than  any  other  public  employment.  Gallantry  and 
successful  conflict  presents  the  commander  and  subalterns  at  once 
prominently  before  the  country;  besides  military  fame  addresses 
itself  to  every  capacity,  and  strange  ^as  it  may  seem,  there  is  no 
quality  so  popular  with  man  and  woman,  too,  as  the  art  of  success- 
fully killing  our  fellow-man,  and  devastating  his  country.  It  is  ever 
a  successful  claim  to  public  honors  and  political  preferments.  No 
fame  is  so  lasting  as  a  military  fame.  Caesar  and  Hannibal  are 
names,  though  they  lived  two  thousand  years  ago,  familiar  in  the 
mouths  of  every  one,  and  grow  brighter  as  time  progresses.  Philip 
and  his  more  warlike  son,  Alexander,  are  names  familiar  to  the 

Q 


242  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

learned  and  illiterate,  alike ;  while  those  who  adorned  the  walks  of 
civil  life  with  virtues,  and  godlike  abilities,  are  only  known  to  those 
who  burrow  in  musty  old  books,  and  search  out  the  root  of  civili- 
zation enjoyed  by  modern  nations.  They  who  fought  at  Cannae  and 
Marathon,  at  Troy  and  at  Carthage,  are  household  names;  while  those 
who  invented  the  plough  and  the  spade,  and  first  taught  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  earth,  the  very  base  of  civilization,  are  unknown  —  never 
thought  of.  Such  is  human  nature. 

The  war  of  1812  had  developed  one  or  two  men  only  of  high 
military  genius,  and  the  furor  for  military  men  had  not  then  become 
a  mania.  Abilities  for  civil  government  were  considered  essential 
in  him  who  was  to  be  elevated  to  the  Presidency.  Indeed,  it  was 
not  so  much  a  warrior's  fame  which  had  controlled  in  the  election 
of  the  previous  Presidents,  as  their  high  intellectual  reputations. 
Washington  had  rendered  such  services  to  the  country,  both  as  a 
military  man  and  a  civilian,  that  his  name  was  the  nation.  He  had 
been  everywhere  designated  as  the  father  of  his  country,  and  such 
was  the  public  devotion,  that  he  had  only  to  ask  it,  and  a  despot's 
crown  would  have  adorned  his  brow.  John  Adams,  Jefferson,  and 
Madison  had  no  military  record ;  but  in  the  capacity  of  civilians  had 
rendered  essential  service  to  the  cause  of  the  Revolution.  Their 
Administrations  had  been  successful,  and  the  public  mind  attributed 
this  success  to  their  abilities  as  statesmen,  and  desired  to  find  as  their 
successors,  men  of  like  minds,  and  similar  attainments.  Crawford, 
Calhoun,  Clay,  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  Lowndes,  had  all  of  them 
given  evidences  of  eminent  statesmanship,  and  the  public  mind 
among  these  was  divided.  At  the  time  of  the  death  of  Lowndes, 
this  mind  was  rapidly  concentrating  upon  him,  as  more  eminently 
uniting  the  desired  qualifications  than  any  other. 

It  was  about  this  very  time  that  General  Jackson's  name  began  to 
attract  the  public  as  a  prominent  candidate.  Mr.  Calhoun  was 
ready  to  retire  from  the  contest,  and  it  is  very  probable  his  friends 
would  have  united  in  the  support  of  Lowndes,  but  he  being  out  of  the 
way,  they  united  upon  Jackson.  When  Jackson  was  first  spoken 
of  as  a  candidate,  most  men  of  intelligence  viewed  it  as  a  mere  joke, 
but  very  soon  the  admiration  for  his  military  fame  was  apparent  in 
the  delight  manifested  by  the  masses,  when  he  was  brought  promi- 
nently forward.  That  thirst  for  military  glory,  and  the  equally 
ardent  thirst  to  do  homage  to  the  successful  military  man,  was  dis- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  243 

covered  to  be  as  innate  and  all-pervading  with  the  American  people, 
as  with  any  other  of  the  most  warlike  nations.  Had  the  name  of 
Jackson  been  brought  before  the  people  six  months  earlier  than  it 
was,  he  would,  most  assuredly,  have  been  triumphantly  elected  by 
the  popular  vote.  It  would  be  fruitless  to  speculate  upon  what 
might  have  been  the  consequences  to  the  country  had  he  been  then 
chosen.  Besides,  such  is^foreign  to  my  purpose.  I  mean  merely  to 
record  memories  of  men  and  things  which  have  come  under  my  eye 
and  to  my  knowledge,  for  the  last  fifty  years,  and  which  I  may  sup- 
pose will  be  interesting  to  the  general  reader,  and  particularly  to  the 
young,  who  are  just  now  coming  into  position  as  men  and  women, 
and  who  will  constitute  the  controlling  element  in  society  and  in  the 
Government.  To  those  of  my  own  age,  it  may  serve  to  awaken 
reminiscences  of  a  by-gone  age,  and  enable  them  to  contrast  the  men 
and  things  of  now  and  then. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

FRENCH     AND     SPANISH    TERRITORY. 

SETTLERS  ON  THE  TOMBIGBEE  AND  MISSISSIPPI  RIVERS  —  LA  SALLE  —  NATCHEZ 
—  FAMILY  APPORTIONMENT — THE  HILL  COUNTRY  —  HOSPITALITY  — BENEFIT 
OF  AFRICAN  SLAVERY — CAPACITY  OF  THE  NEGRO — His  FUTURE. 

ABOUT  the  year  1777,  many  persons  of  the  then  colonies,  fear- 
ful of  the  consequences  of  the  war  then  commencing  for  the 
independence  of  the  colonies,  removed  and  sought  a  home  beyond 
their  limits.  Some  selected  the  Tombigbee,  and  others  the  Missis- 
sippi River,  and,  braving  the  horrors  of  the  wilderness,  made  a  home 
for  themselves  and  posterity,  amid  the  rude  inhospitalies  of  unculti- 
vated nature. 

There  were,  at  that  time,  small  settlements  of  French  and  Spanish 
adventurers  upon  these  streams,  in  different  localities.  La  Salle 
descended  upon  Canada,  and,  taking  possession  of  Louisiana  in  the 
name  of  the  French  king,  had  created  among  many  of  the  chivalrous 
and  adventurous  spirits  of  France  a  desire  to  take  possession  of  the 


244  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

entire  country,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Saint  Lawrence  to  that  of  the 
Mississippi.  Nova  Scotia,  called  Acadia  by  its  first  settlers,  and 
the  provinces  of  Canada,  were  his  already,  and  France  desired  to 
restrict  the  further  expansion  of  the  English  colonies,  now  growing 
into  importance  along  the  Atlantic  coast. 

The  vast  extent  of  the  continent  and  its  immense  fertility,  with  its 
mighty  rivers,  its  peculiar  adaptation  to  settlement,  and  the  yielding 
of  all  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  human  wants,  had  aroused  the 
enterprise  of  Europe.  Spain  had  possessed  herself  of  South  America, 
Mexico,  and  Cuba,  the  pride  of  the  Antilles.  The  success  of  her 
scheme  of  colonization  stimulated  both  England  and  France  to  push 
forward  their  settlements,  and  to  foster  and  protect  them  with  Gov- 
ernmental care.  After  some  fruitless  attempts,  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi had  been  discovered,  and  approached  from  the  Gulf.  The 
expedition  under  La  Salle  had  failed  to  find  it.  The  small  colony 
brought  by  him  for  settlement  upon  the  Mississippi,  had  been  landed 
many  leagues  west  of  the  river's  mouth,  and  owing  to  disputes 
between  that  great  and  enterprising  man  and  the  officer  commanding 
the  two  ships  which  had  transported  them  across  the  Atlantic,  they 
were  mercilessly  left  by  this  officer,  without  protection,  and  almost 
without  provisions,  upon  the  coast  of  what  is  now  Texas.  La  Salle 
had  started  with  a  small  escort,  by  land,  to  find  the  great  river. 
These  men  became  dissatisfied,  and  not  sharing  in  the  adventurous 
and  energetic  spirit  of  their  leader,  remonstrated  with  him  and  pro- 
posed to  return  to  their  companions ;  but,  disregarding  them,  he 
pressed  on  in  his  new  enterprise.  In  wading  a  small  stream,  one  of 
the  men  was  carried  off  by  an  alligator,  and  a  day  or  so  after,  another 
was  bitten  and  killed  by  a  rattle-snake.  Terror  seized  upon  his  men, 
and  all  their  persuasions  proving  fruitless,  they  determined  to  assas- 
sinate him  and  return.  They  did  so,  only  to  find  the  colony  dis- 
persed and  nowhere  to  be  found.  After  many  hazardous  adventures 
they  reached  the  Arkansas  River,  and  descended  it  to  its  mouth, 
where  they  proposed  preparing  some  means  of  ascending  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  thus  return  to  Canada.  Fortunately  they  had  been 
there  but  a  few  hours,  when  a  small  boat  or  two,  which  had  been 
dispatched  from  Canada  to  look  after  the  colony  so  long  expected, 
arrived,  and,  learning  the  unfortunate  issue  of  the  enterprise,  took 
on  board  the  party,  and  returned  up  the  river.  They  reported  the 
colony  destroyed,  and  it  was  not  until  many  years  after,  that  it  was 


FIFTY     YEARS.  245 

discovered  that  those  left  on  the  sea-side  had  been  found,  and  con- 
veyed to  the  Jesuit  Mission,  at  San  Antonio,  where  they  had  been 
cared  for  and  preserved  by  the  pious  and  humane  missionaries. 

Subsequently  a  colony  was  located  at  Boloxy,  on  the  shore  of  the 
lake,  and  thence  was  transferred  to  New  Orleans.  Mobile,  soon 
after,  was  made  the  nucleus  of  another  colony,  and  from  these  two 
points  had  proceeded  the  pioneers  of  the  different  settlements  along 
these  rivers  —  the  Tombigbee  and  the  Mississippi.  It  was  to  these 
settlements  or  posts,  or  their  neighborhoods,  that  these  refugees  from 
the  Revolutionary  war  in  the  colonies  had  retired.  Natchez  and 
St.  Francisville,  on  the  Mississippi,  and  St.  Stephen's  and  Mclntosh's 
Bluff,  on  the  Tombigbee,  were  the  most  populous  and  important. 

About  these,  and  under  the  auspicious  protection  of  the  Spanish 
Government,  then  dominant  in  Louisiana  and  Florida,  commenced 
the  growth  of  the  Anglo-Norman  population,  which  is  now  the 
almost  entire  population  of  the  country.  There  proceeded  from 
South  Carolina,  about  the  time  mentioned  above,  a  colony  of  per- 
sons which  located  near  Natchez.  They  came  down  the  Holston, 
Tennessee,  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  on  flat-boats;  and  after  many 
escapes  from  the  perils  incident  to  the  streams  they  navigated,  and 
the  hostility  of  the  savages  who  dwelt  along  their  shores,  they 
reached  this  Canaan  of  their  hopes.  They  had  intended  to  locate  at 
New  Madrid.  The  country  around  was  well  suited  for  cultivation, 
being  alluvial  and  rich,  and  the  climate  was  all  they  could  desire ; 
but  they  found  a  population  mongrel  and  vicious,  unrestrained  by 
law  or  morals,  and  learning  through  a  negro  belonging  to  the  place 
of  an  intended  attack  upon  their  party,  for  the  purpose  of  robbery, 
they  hastily  re-embarked  what  of  their  property  and  stock  they  had 
debarked.  Under  pretense  of  dropping  a  few  miles  lower  down  the 
river  for  a  more  eligible  site,  they  silently  and  secretly  left  in  the 
night,  and  never  attempted  another  stop  until  reaching  the  Walnut 
Hills,  now  Vicksburg.  A  few  of  the  party  concluded  to  remain 
here,  while  the  larger  number  went  on  down ;  some  to  the  mouth  of 
Cole's  Creek,  some  to  Natchez,  and  others  to  the  cliffs  known  by 
the  name  of  one  of  the  emigrants  whose  party  concluded  to  settle 
there. 

These  cliffs,  which  are  eighteen  miles  below  Natchez,  have  always 
been  known  as  Ellis'  Cliffs.  In  their  rear  is  a  most  beautiful,  and 
eminently  fertile  country.  Grants  weje  obtained  from  the  Spanish 


246  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

Government  of  these  lands,  in  tracts  suited  to  the  means  of  each 
family.  A  portion  was  given  to  the  husband,  a  portion  to  the  wife, 
and  a  portion  to  each  child  of  every  family.  These  grants  covered 
nearly  all  of  that  desirable  region  south  of  St.  Catharine's  Creek  and 
west  of  Second  Creek  to  the  Mississippi  River,  and  south  to  the 
Homochitto  River.  Similar  grants  were  obtained  for  lands  about 
the  mouth,  and  along  the  banks  of  Cole's  Creek,  at  and  around 
Fort  Adams,  ten  miles  above  the  mouth  of  Red  River,  and  upon  the 
Bayou  Pierre.  The  same  authority  donated  to  the  emigrants  lands 
about  Mclntosh's  Bluff,  Fort  St.  Stephens,  and  along  Bassett's  Creek, 
in  the  region  of  the  Tombigbee  River.  Here  the  lands  were  not  so 
fertile,  nor  were  they  in  such  bodies  as  in  the  region  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  settlements  did  not  increase  and  extend  to  the  surround- 
ing country  with  the  same  rapidity  as  in  the  latter  country.  Many  of 
those  first  stopping  on  the  Tombigbee,  ultimately  removed  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi. Here  they  encountered  none  of  the  perils  or  losses  incident 
to  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  The  privations  of  a  new  country  they 
did,  of  necessity,  endure,  but  not  to  the  same  extent  that  those  suffer 
who  are  deprived  of  a  market  for  the  products  of  their  labor.  New 
Orleans  afforded  a  remunerative  market  for  all  they  could  produce, 
and,  in  return,  supplied  them  with  every  necessary  beyond  their  means 
of  producing  at  home.  The  soil  and  climate  were  not  only  auspicious 
to  the  production  of  cotton,  tobacco,  and  indigo  —  then  a  valuable 
marketable  commodity  —  but  every  facility  for  rearing  without  stint 
every  variety  of  stock.  These  settlements  were  greatly  increased  by 
emigration  from  Pennsylvania,  subsequently  to  the  conclusion  of  the 
war,  as  well  as  from  the  Southern  States. 

Very  many  who,  in  that  war,  had  sided  with  the  mother  country 
from  conscientious,  or  mercenary  views,  were  compelled  by  public 
opinion,  or  by  the  operation  of  the  law  confiscating  their  property 
and  banishing  them  from  the  country,  to  find  new  homes.  Those, 
however,  who  came  first  had  choice  of  locations,  and  most  generally 
selected  the  best;  and  bringing  most  wealth,  maintained  the  ascen- 
dency in  this  regard,  and  gave  tone  and  direction  to  public  matters 
as  well  as  to  the  social  organization  of  society.  Most  of  them  were 
men  of  education  and  high  social  position  in  the  countries  from 
which  they  came.  Constant  intercourse  with  New  Orleans,  and  the 
education  of  the  youth  of  both  sexes  of  this  region  in  the  schools  of 
that  city,  carried  the  high  polish  of  French  society  into  the  colony. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  247 

Louisiana,  and  especially  New  Orleans,  was  first  settled  by  the 
nobility  and  gentry  of  France.  They  were  men  in  position  among 
the  first  of  that  great  and  glorious  people.  Animated  with  th'e 
ambition  for  high  enterprise,  they  came  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
create  a  society,  and  to  plant  French  manners  and  customs,  and  the 
elegance  of  French  learning  and  French  society,  upon  the  banks  of 
the  Mississippi. 

The  commercial  and  social  intermingling  of  these  people  resulted 
in  intermarriages,  which  very  soon  assimilated  them  in  most  things 
as  one  people,  at  least  in  feeling,  sentiment  and  interest.  From 
such  a  stock  grew  the  people  inhabiting  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi, 
from  Vicksburg  to  New  Orleans.  In  1826,  young  men  of  talent 
and  enterprise  had  come  from  Europe,  and  every  section  of  the 
United  States,  and,  giving  their  talents  to  the  development  of  the 
country,  had  created  a  wealth,  greater  and  more  generally  diffused 
than  was,  at  that  time,  to  be  found  in  any  other  planting  or  farming 
community  in  the  United  States.  Living  almost  exclusively  among 
themselves,  their  manners  and  feelings  were  homogeneous;  and 
living,  too,  almost  entirely  upon  the  products  of  their  plantations, 
independent  of  their  market-crops,  they  grew  rich  so  rapidly  as  to 
mock  the  fable  of  Jonah's  gourd.  This  wealth  afforded  the  means 
of  education  and  travel ;  these,  cultivation  and  high  mental  attain- 
ments, and,  with  these,  the  elegances  of  refined  life.  The  country 
was  vast  and  fertile ;  the  Mississippi,  flowing  by  their  homes,  was 
sublimely  grand,  and  seemed  to  inspire  ideas  and  aspirations  com- 
mensurate with  its  own  majesty  in  the  people  upon  its  borders. 

In  no  country  are  to  be  found  women  of  more  refined  character, 
more  beauty,  or  more  elegance  of  manners,  than  among  the  planters' 
wives  and  daughters  of  the  Mississippi  coast.  Reared  in  the  country, 
and  accustomed  to  exercise  in  the  open  air,  in  walking  through  the 
shady  avenues  of  the  extensive  and  beautifully  ornamented  grounds 
about  the  home  or  plantation-house ;  riding  on  horseback  along  the 
river's  margin,  elevated  upon  the  levee,  covered  with  the  green  Ber- 
muda grass,  smoothly  spreading  over  all  the  ground,  save  the  pretty 
open  road,  stretching  through  this  grass,  like  a  thread  of  silver  in  a 
a  cloth  of  green;  with  the  great  drab  river,  moving  in  silent  majesty, 
on  one  side,  and  the  extended  fields  of  the  plantation,  teeming  with 
the  crop  of  cane  or  cotton,  upon  the  other.  Their  exercise,  thus 
surrounded,  becomes  a  school,  and  their  ideas  expand  and  grow  with 


248  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

the  sublimity  of  their  surroundings.  The  health-giving  exercise  and 
the  wonderful  scene  yields  vigor  both  to  mind  and  body.  Nor  is 
fhis  scene,  or  its  effects,  greater  in  the  development  of  mind  and 
body  than  that  of  the  hill-country  of  the  river-counties  of  Mississippi. 

These  hills  ar^  peculiar.  They  are  drift,  thrown  upon  the  primi- 
tive formation  by  some  natural  convulsion,  and  usually  extend  some 
twelve  or  fifteen  miles  into  the  interior.  They  consist  of  a  rich, 
marly  loam,  and,  when  in  a  state  of  nature  were  clothed  to  their 
summits  with  the  wild  cane,  dense  and  unusually  large,  a  forest  of 
magnolia,  black  walnut,  immense  oaks,  and  tulip  or  poplar-trees, 
with  gigantic  vines  of  the  wild  grape  climbing  and  overtopping  the 
tallest  of  these  forest  monarchs.  Here  among  these  picturesque  hills 
and  glorious  woods,  the  emigrants  fixed  their  homes,  and  here  grew 
their  posterity  surrounding  themselves  with  wealth,  comforts,  and  all 
the  luxuries  and  elegances  of  an  elevated  civilization.  Surrounded 
in  these  homes  with  domestic  slaves  reared  in  them,  and  about  them, 
who  came  at  their  bidding,  and  went  when  told,  but  who  were  care- 
fully regarded,  sustained,  and  protected,  and  who  felt  their  family 
identity,  and  were  happy,  served  affectionately,  and  with  willing 
alacrity,  the  master  and  his  "household.  In  the  midst  of  scenes  and 
circumstances  like  these  grew  women  in  all  that  constitutes  nobility 
of  soul  and  sentiment,  delicacy,  intelligence,  and  refined  parity, 
superior  to  any  it  has  ever  been  my  fortune  to  meet  on  earth. 

Here  in  these  palatial  homes  was  the  hospitality  of  princes.  It 
was  not  the  hospitality  of  pride  or  ostentation,  but  of  the  heart ;  the 
welcome  which  the  soul  ungrudgingly  gives,  and  which  delights  and 
refines  the  receiver.  It  is  the  welcome  of  a  refined  humanity, 
untainted  with  selfishness,  and  felt  as  a  humane  and  duly  bound 
tribute  to  civilization  and  Christianity ;  such  hospitality  as  can  only 
belong  to  the  social  organization  which  had  obtained  in  the  commu- 
nity from  its  advent  upon  this  great  country. 

The  independence  of  the  planter's  pursuit,  the  institution  of 
domestic  slavery,  and  the  form  and  spirit  of  the  Government,  all 
conduce  to  this.  The  mind  is  untrammelled  and  the  soul  is  inde- 
pendent, because  subservient  neither  to  the  tyrannical  exactions  of 
unscrupulous  authority,  or  the  more  debasing  servility  of  dependence 
upon  the  capricious  whims  of  petty  officials,  or  a  monied  aristocracy. 
Independently  possessing  the  soil  and  the  labor  for  its  cultivation, 
with  only  the  care  necessary  to  the  comforts  and  necessities  of  this 


FIFTY     YEARS.  249 

labor,  superadded  to  those  of  a  family,  they  were  without  the  neces- 
sity of  soliciting  or  courting  favors  from  any  one,  or  pandering  to 
the  ignorant  caprices  of  a  labor  beyond  their  control.  Independence 
of  means  is  the  surest  guarantee  for  independence  of  character. 
Where  this  is  found,,  most  private  and  most  public  virtues  always 
accompany  it.  Truth,  sincerity,  all  the  cardinal  virtues  are  fos- 
tered most  where  there  is  most  independence.  This  takes  away  the 
source  of  all  corruption,  all  temptation.  This  seeks  dependence, 
and  victimizes  its  creatures  to  every  purpose  of  corruption  and 
meanness. 

Under  the  influences  of  the  institutions  of  the  South,  as  they  were, 
there  was  little  of  the  servile  meanness  so  predominant  where  they 
were  not,  and  the  lofty  and  chivalrous  character  of  the  Southern 
people  was  greatly  owing  to  these  institutions,  and  the  habits  of  the 
people  growing  out  of  them.  The  slave  was  a  class  below  all  others. 
His  master  was  his  protector  and  friend ;  he  supplied  his  wants  and 
redressed  his  wrongs,  and  it  was  a  point  of  honor  as  well  as  duty  to 
do  so ;  he  was  assured  of  his  care  and  protection,  and  felt  no 
humility  at  his  condition.  The  white  man,  without  means,  was 
reminded  that,  though  poor,  he  was  above  the  slave,  and  was  stimu- 
lated with  the  pride  of  position  as  contrasted  with  that  of  the  slave ; 
his  political,  legal,  and  social  rights  were  unrestrained  and  equal 
with  those  of  the  wealthiest.  This  was  the  only  distinction  between 
him  and  the  wealthiest  in  the  land,  and  this  wealth  conferred  no 
exclusive  privilege,  and  its  acquisition  was  open  to  his  energy  and 
enterprise,  and  he  gloried  in  his  independence.  He  could  acquire 
and  enjoy  without  dependence,  and  his  pride  and  ambition  were 
alike  stimulated  to  the  emulation  of  those  who  shared  most  fortune's 
favors. 

The  beneficial  influences  of  the  institution  of  African  slavery  were 
not  only  apparent  in  the  independent  and  honorable  bearing  and 
conduct  of  the  Southern  people,  growing  from  the  habit  of  command, 
and  involuntary  contrast  of  condition,  but  upon  the  material  advance- 
ment and  progress  of  the  country.  The  product  of  slave  labor,  when 
directed  by  a  higher  intelligence  than  his  own,  is  enormous,  and  was 
the  basis  of  the  extended  and  wealth  -  creating  commerce  of  the 
entire  country.  These  products  could  be  obtained  in  no  other 
manner,  and  without  this  labor,  are  lost  to  the  world.  The  African 
negro,  in  osseous  and  muscular  developments,  and  in  all  the  essentials 


250  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

for  labor,  is  quite  equal  to  those  of  the  white  race  ;  in  his  cerebral, 
greatly  inferior.  The  capacities  of  his  brain  are  limited  and  incapable 
of  cultivation  beyond  a  certain  point.  His  moral  man  is  as  feeble  and 
unteachable  as  his  mental.  He  cannot  be  educated  to  the  capacity 
of  self-  government,  nor  to  the  formation  and  conducting  of  civil 
government  to  the  extent  of  humanizing  and  controlling  by  salutary 
laws  a  people  aggregated  into  communities.  He  learns  by  example 
which  he  imitates,  so  long  as  the  exampler  is  present  before  him  ; 
but  this  imitation  never  hardens  to  fixed  views  or  habits,  indicating 
the  design  of  Providence,  that  these  physical  capacities  should  be 
directed  and  appropriated  for  good,  by  an  intelligence  beyond  the 
mental  reach  of  the  negro. 

Why  is  this  so  ?  In  the  wisdom  and  economy  of  creation  every 
created  thing  represents  a  design  for  a  use.  The  soil  and  climate  of 
the  tropical  and  semi-tropical  regions  of  the  earth  produce  and 
mature  all,  or  very  nearly  all  of  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  human 
life.  But  human  beings  of  different  races  and  different  capacities 
fill  up  the  whole  earth.  The  capacity  to  build  a  fire  and  fabricate 
clothing  is  given  only  to  man.  Was  the  element  of  fire  and  the 
material  for  clothing  given  for  any  but  man's  use?  This  enables  him 
to  inhabit  every  clime.  But  the  capacity  to  produce  all  the  neces- 
saries and  luxuries  of  life  is  given  only  to  a  certain  portion  of 
the  earth's  surface ;  and  its  peculiar  motions  give  the  fructifying 
influences  of  the  sun  only  to  the  middle  belt  of  the  planet.  The 
use  of  this  organization  is  evidenced  in  the  production  of  this  belt, 
and  these  productions  must  be  the  result  of  intelligently  directed 
labor. 

The  peculiarity  of  the  physical  organization  of  the  white  man 
makes  it  impossible  for  him  to  labor  healthfully  and  efficiently  for 
the  greatest  development  of  this  favored  region.  Yet  his  wants 
demand  the  yield  and  tribute  of  this  region.  His  inventive  capacity 
evolved  sugar  from  the  wild  canes  of  the  tropics,  than  which  nothing 
is  more  essential  to  his  necessities,  save  the  cereals  and  clothing. 
He  fabricated  clothing  from  the  tropical  grass  and  tropical  cotton, 
found  the  uses  of  cassia,  pimento,  the  dye  woods,  and  the  thousand 
other  tropical  products  which  contribute  to  comfort,  necessity,  and 
luxury;  advancing  human  happiness,  human  progress,  and  human 
civilization. 

The   black   man's   organization   is   radically  different.     He   was 


FIFTY     YEARS.  251 

formed  especially  to  live  and  labor  in  these  tropical  and  semi-tropi- 
cal regions  of  the  earth;  but  he  is  naturally  indolent,  his  wants  are 
few,  and  nature  unaided  supplies  them.  He  is  uninventive,  and  has 
always,  from  creation  down,  lived  amid  these  plants  without  the 
genius  to  discover,  or  the  skill  and  industry  to  develope  their  uses. 
That  they  are  used,  and  contribute  to  human  health  and  human  neces- 
sities, is  abundant  evidence  of  Divine  design  in  their  creation. 

The  black  man's  labor,  then,  and  the  white  man's  intelligence  are 
necessary  to  the  production  and  fabrication,  for  human  use,  of  these 
provisions  of  Providence.  This  labor  the  black  man  will  not  yield 
without  compulsion.  He  is  eminently  useful  under  this  compulsion, 
and  eminently  useless,  even  to  himself,  without  it.  That  he  was 
designed  to  obey  this  authority,  and  to  be  most  happy  when  and 
where  he  was  most  useful,  is  apparent  in  his  mental  and  moral  organi- 
zation. By  moral  I  mean  those  functions  of  the  nervous  system 
which  bring  us  in  relation  with  the  external  world.  He  aspires  to 
nothing  but  the  gratification  of  his  passions,  and  the  indulgence  of 
his  indolence.  He  only  feels  the  oppression  of  slavery  in  being 
compelled  to  work,  and  none  of  the  moral  degradation  incident  to 
servility  in  the  higher  or  superior  races.  He  is,  consequently,  more 
happy,  and  better  contented  in  this,  than  in  any  other  condition  of 
life.  His  morals,  his  bodily  comforts,  and  his  status  as  a  man,  attain 
to  an  elevation  in  this  condition  known  to  his  race  in  no  other. 

All  the  results  of  his  condition  react  upon  the  superior  race,  hold- 
ing him  in  the  condition  designed  for  him  by  his  Creator,  producing 
results  to  human  progress  all  over  the  world,  known  to  result  in  an 
equal  ratio  from  no  other  cause.  The  institution  has  passed  away, 
and  very  soon  all  its  consequences  will  cease  to  be  visible  in  the 
character  of  the  Southern  people.  The  plantation  will  dwindle  to 
the  truck-patch,  the  planter  will  sink  into  the  grave,  and  his  offspring 
will  degenerate  into  hucksters  and  petty  traders,  and  become  as 
mean  and  contemptible  as  the  Puritan  Yankee. 

In  the  two  hundred  years  of  African  slavery  the  world's  progress 
was  greater  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  in  all  the  appliances  promo- 
tive  of  intelligence  and  human  happiness,  than  in  any  period  of  his- 
torical time,  of  five  centuries.  Why  ?  Because  the  labor  was  per- 
formed by  the  man  formed  for  labor  and  incapable  of  thinking,  and 
releasing  the  man  formed  to  think,  direct,  and  invent,  from  labor, 
ot  \er  than  labor  of  thought.  This  influence  was  felt  over  the  civil- 


252  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

ized  world.  The  productions  of  the  tropics  were  demanded  by  the 
higher  civilization.  Men  forgot  to  clothe  themselves  in  skins  when 
they  could  do  so  in  cloth.  As  commerce  extended  her  flight,  bear- 
ing these  rich  creations  of  labor,  elaborated  by  intelligence,  civiliza- 
tion went  with  her,  expanding  the  mind,  enlarging  the  wants,  and 
prompting  progress  in  all  with  whom  she  communicated.  Its  influ- 
ence was  first  felt  from  the  Antilles,  extending  to  the  United  States. 
In  proportion  to  the  increase  of  these  products  was  the  increase  of 
commerce,  wealth,  intelligence,  and  power.  Compare  the  statistics 
of  production  by  slave-labor  with  the  increase  of  commerce,  and  they 
go  hand  in  hand.  As  the  slave  came  down  from  the  grain-growing 
region  to  the  cotton  and  sugar  region,  the  amount  of  his  labor's 
product  entering  into  commerce  increased  four-fold.  The  inventions 
of  Whitney  and  Arkwright  cheapened  the  fabric  of  cotton  so  much  as 
to  bring  it  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest,  and  availed  the  world  in 
all  the  uses  of  cloth. 

The  shipping  and  manufacturing  interests  of  England  grew ;  those 
of  the  United  States,  from  nothing,  in  a  few  years  were  great  rivals 
of  the  mother  country,  and  very  soon  surpassed  her  in  commercial 
tonnage.  Every  interest  prospered  with  the  prosperity  of  the  planter 
of  the  Southern  States.  His  class  has  passed  away;  the  weeds 
blacken  where  the  chaste,  white  cotton  beautified  his  fields  ;  his  slave 
is  a  freedman  —  a  constitution-maker  —  a  ruler  set  up  by  a  beastly 
fanaticism  to  control  his  master,  and  to  degrade  and  destroy  his 
country. 

This  must  bear  its  legitimate  fruit.  It  is  the  beginning  of  the  end 
of  the  negro  upon  this  continent.  Two  races  with  the  same  civil, 
political  and  social  privileges  cannot  long  exist  in  harmony  together. 
The  struggle  for  supremacy  will  come,  and  with  it  a  war  of  races  — 
then  God  have  mercy  on  the  weaker !  The  mild  compulsion  which 
stimulated  his  labor  is  withdrawn,  and  with  it  the  care  and  protec- 
tion which  alone  preserved  him.  He  works  no  more ;  his  day  of 
Jubilee  has  come ;  he  must  be  a  power  in  the  land.  Infatuated  crea- 
ture !  I  pity  you  from  my  heart.  You  cannot  see  or  calculate  the 
inevitable  destiny  now  fixed  for  your  race.  You  cannot  see  the  vile 
uses  you  are  made  to  subserve  for  a  time,  or  deem  that  those  who 
now  appear  your  conservators,  are  but  preparing  your  funeral  pyre. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  253 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE    NATCHEZ    TRADITIONS. 

NATCHEZ  — MIZEZIBBEE;  OR,  THE  PARENT  OF  MANY  WATERS— INDIAN  MOUNDS 
—  THE  CHILD  OF  THE  SUN  — TREATMENT  OF  THE  FEMALES  —  POETIC  MAR- 
KIAGES  —  UNCHASTE  MAIDS  AND  PURE  WIVES  —  WALKING  ARCHIVES  — THE 
PROFANE  FIRE — ALAHOPLECHIA  — OYELAPE  — THE  CHIEF  WITH  A  BEARD. 

THE  little  city  of  Natchez  is  built  upon  a  bluff  some  three  hun- 
dred feet  in  elevation  above  the  Mississippi  River,  and  imme- 
diately upon  its  brink.  It  receives  its  name  from  a  tribe  of  Indians 
once  resident  in  the  country ;  and  who  were  much  further  advanced 
in  civilization  than  their  more  warlike  neighbors,  the  Choctaws  and 
the  Chickasaws.  The  country  around  is  hilly  and  beautiful,  fertile 
and  salubrious.  The  population  was  intelligent  and  refined,  and  was 
remarkable  for  having  more  wealth  than  any  community  outside  of 
a  large  city,  in  the  United  States,  of  the  same  amount  of  population. 
The  town  of  Natchez  (for,  properly  speaking,  it  is  no  more)  consists 
of  some  three  or  four  thousand  inhabitants,  and  has  not  increased  to 
any  considerable  extent,  for  many  years. 

Beyond  the  river,  in  Louisiana,  is  an  alluvial  plain  extending  for 
fifty  miles,  through  which  meander  many  small  streams,  or  bayous, 
as  they  are  termed  in  the  language  of  the  country.  Upon  most  of 
these  the  surface  of  the  soil  is  slightly  elevated  above  the  plane  of 
the  swamp,  and  is  remarkably  fertile.  Most  of  these  were,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  late  war,  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation  as  cotton 
plantations.  As  in  many  other  places,  the  river  here  has  changed 
its  bed  by  cutting  off  a  large  bend  immediately  opposite  the  town, 
creating  what  is  known  as  Lake  Concordia.  This  lake  was  formerly 
the  bed  of  the  river,  and  describes  almost  a  complete  circle  of  some 
twelve  miles  in  diameter.  On  both  sides  of  this  lake  beautiful  plan- 
tations, with  splendid  improvements,  presented  a  view  from  the 
bluff  at  Natchez  extremely  picturesque  when  covered  with  luxuriant 
crops  of  corn  and  cotton.  The  fertility  of  the  soil  is  such  that  these 
crops  are  immensely  heavy ;  and  when  the  cotton-plant  has  matured 
its  fruit,  and  the  pent-up  lint  in  the  large  conical  balls  has  burst 
them  open,  exposing  their  white  treasure  swelling  out  to  meet  the 
22 


254  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

sun's  warm  rays,  and  the  parent  stock  to  the  first  frost  of  autumn  has 
thrown  off  her  foliage,  and  all  these  broad  fields  are  one  sheet  of 
lovely  white,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  view  —  the  scene  is  lovely  beyond 
description ;  and  when  the  same  rich  scene  was  presented  extending 
along  the  banks  of  the  great  river,  with  the  magnificent  steamers 
resting  at  the  wharf  below,  and  others  cleaving  the  current  in  proud 
defiance  of  the  mighty  volume  of  hurrying  waters  —  the  splendor 
and  magnificence  of  the  whole  sublimated  the  feelings  as  we  viewed 
it  in  wonder. 

•  The  river,  the  bluff,  and  the  lake  are  there ;  but  waste  and  desola- 
tion frown  on  these,  and  the  fat  earth's  rich  fruits  are  yielded  no 
more.  Fanaticism's  hot  breath  has  breathed  upon  it,  and  war's  red 
hand  (her  legitimate  offspring)  has  stricken  down  the  laborer ;  tillage 
has  ceased,  and  gaunt  poverty  and  hungry  want  only  are  left  in  her 
train. 

When  the  great  La  Salle  moored  his  little  fleet  at  the  foot  of  this 
bluff,  ascended  to  its  summit,  and  looked  over  this  then  forest-clad 
plain,  did  he  contemplate  the  coming  future  of  this  beautiful  dis- 
covery of  his  genius  and  enterprise  ?  When  he  looked  upon  the 
blue  smoke  curling  above  the  tall  tree-tops  along  the  lake,  in  the  far 
distance,  as  it  ascended  from  the  wigwams  of  the  Natchez,  the  wild 
denizens  of  this  interminable  forest,  did  his  prophetic  eye  perceive 
these  lovely  fields,  happy  homes,  and  prosperous  people,  who  came 
after  him  to  make  an  Eden  of  this  chosen  spot  of  all  the  earth  ?  and 
did  it  stretch  on  to  contemplate  the  ruin  and  desolation  which  over- 
spreads it  now  ?  How  blest  is  man  that  he  sees  not  beyond  to-day  ! 

Here  he  first  met  the  Natchez,  and  viewed  with  wonder  the  flat 
heads  and  soft,  gazelle  eyes  of  this  strange  people.  They  welcomed 
his  coming,  and  tendered  him  and  his  people  a  home.  From  them 
he  learned  the  extent  of  the  great  river  below,  and  that  it  was  lost  in 
the  great  water  that  was  without  limit  and  had  no  end.  These 
Indians,  according  to  their  traditions,  had  once  inhabited,  as  a  mighty 
nation,  the  country  extending  from  near  the  city  of  Mexico  to  the 
Rio  Grande,  and  were  subjects  of  the  Aztec  empire  of  Mexico. 
They  had  been  persecuted  and  oppressed,  and  determined,  in  grand 
council,  to  abandon  the  country  and  seek  a  home  beyond  the  Mize- 
zibbee,  or  Parent-of-many-waters,  which  the  word  signifies. 

Their  exodus  commenced  in  a  body.  They  were  many  days  in 
assembling  upon  the  east  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande ;  and  thence  com- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  255 

menced  their  long  march.  They  abandoned  their  homes  and  the 
graves  of  their  ancestors  for  a  new  one  in  the  lovely  region  they 
found  on  the  hills  extending  from  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  to  Baton 
Rouge.  Their  principal  town  and  seat  of  empire  was  located  eleven 
miles  below  Natchez,  on  the  banks  of  Second  Creek,  two  miles  from 
the  Mississippi  River.  It  is  a  delightful  spot  of  high  table-land,  with 
a  small  strip  of  level  low-land  immediately  upon  the  margin  of  the 
dimpling  little  stream  of  sweet  water.  Upon  this  flat  they  erected 
the  great  mound  for  *their  temple  of  the  Sun,  and  the  depository  of 
the  holy  fire,  so  sacred  in  their  worship.  At  each  point  of  the  com- 
pass they  erected  smaller  mounds  for  the  residences  of  their  chief,  or 
child  of  the  Sun,  and  his  ministers  of  state.  In  the  great  temple  upon 
the  principal  mound  they  deposited  the  fire  of  holiness,  which  they 
had  borne  unextinguished  from  the  deserted  temple  in  Mexico,  and 
began  to  build  their  village.  Parties  went  forth  to  establish  other 
villages,  and  before  a  great  while  they  were  located  in  happy  homes 
in  a  land  of  abundance.  They  formed  treaties  of  amity  with  their, 
powerful  but  peaceable  neighbors,  the  Choctaws,  and  ere  long  with 
the  Chickasaws  and  other  minor  tribes,  east,  and  below  them,  on  the 
river,  the  Tunicas,  Houmas,  and  others ;  for  the  country  abounded 
with  little  bands,  insignificant  and  powerless. 

These  Indians  revered,  as  more  than  mortal,  their  great  chief, 
whom  they  called  the  child  of  the  Sun.  They  had  a  tradition  that 
when  they  were  a  great  nation,  in  Mexico,  they  were  divided  into 
parties  by  feuds  among  their  chiefs,  and  all  their  power  to  resist  the 
aggressions  of  their  enemies  was  lost ;  consequently  they  had  fallen 
under  the  power  of  the  Aztecs,  who  dominated  them,  and  destroyed 
many  of  their  people.  Upon  one  occasion,  when  a  common  enemy 
and  a  common  suffering  had  made  them  forget  their  quarrels,  they 
were  assembled  for  council.  Suddenly  there  appeared  in  their  midst 
a  white  man  and  woman,  surrounded  with  a  halo  of  light  coming 
directly  from  the  sun.  They  were  all  silent  with  awe  when  this 
man  spoke,  and  with  such  authority  as  to  make  every  chief  tremble 
with  fear.  They  bowed  to  him  with  reverence,  and  he  professing 
to  be  weary  with  his  long  journey,  they  conducted  him  with  his  wife 
to  a  lodge,  and  bade  them  repose  and  be  rested.  The  chiefs,  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night  and  in  silence,  assembled,  while  the  celestial 
pair  slept,  conscious  of  security.  After  long  and  close  council,  they 
determined  to  proffer  the  supreme  authority  of  the  nation  to  this  man, 


256  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

sent  to  them  by  the  sun.  When  this  determination  had  been  reached, 
the  chiefs,  in  a  body,  repaired  to  the  house  occupied  by  their  mys- 
terious visitors  and,  arousing  them  from  sleep,  they  formally  tendered 
to  the  man  the  crown  and  supreme  authority  over  the  chiefs,  all  their 
villages,  and  all  their  people.  At  first  he  refused,  asserting  that  he 
knew  their  hearts ;  they  carried  hatred  of  one  another,  and  that  they 
would  come  to  hate  him ;  then  they  would  disobey  him,  and  this 
would  be  death  to  all  the  Natchez.  Finally  yielding  to  the  impor- 
tunities and  earnestly  repeated  protestations  of  a  determination  to 
obey  him  and  follow  his  counsels  implicitly,  he  agreed  to  accept  the 
crown  upon  certain  conditions.  These  were :  first  and  paramount, 
that  the  Natchez  should  abandon  their  homes  and  country,  and  fol- 
low him  to  a  new  home  which  he  would  show  them ;  and  that  they 
should  live  and  conform  strictly  to  the  laws  he  would  establish. 
The  principal  of  these  were :  the  sovereign  of  Natchez  should  always 
and  forever  be  of  his  race,  and  that  if  he  had  sons  and  daughters, 
they  should  not  be  permitted  to  intermarry  with  each  other,  but  only 
with  the  people  of  the  Natchez.  The  first-born  of  his  sons  should 
be  his  successor,  and  then  the  son  of  his  eldest  daughter,  and  should 
he  have  no  daughter,  then  the  son  of  his  eldest  sister,  or  in  default 
of  such  an  heir,  then  the  eldest  son  of  the  nearest  female  relative  of 
the  sovereign,  and  so  in  perpetuity. 

So  soon  as  he  was  inaugurated  chief  and  supreme  ruler,  he  went 
out  in  the  midst  of  the  assembled  multitude  and  called  down  in  their 
presence  fire  from  the  sun ;  blessed  it  and  made  it  holy.  He  created 
a  guard  of  eight  men,  made  them  priests  and  gave  them  charge  of  the 
fire,  and  bid  them,  under  pain  of  death,  to  preserve  and  keep  alive 
this  holy  fire.  They  must  tend  it  day  and  night  and  feed  it  with 
walnut  wood,  and  in  their  charge  it  went  before  the  moving  host  to 
where  he  had  promised  they  should  find  a  new  and  better  home  than 
the  one  they  were  leaving. 

Another  tradition  says,  they  were  aiders  of  the  Spaniards  in  the 
conquest  of  Mexico,  and  that  these  became  as  great  persecutors  of 
their  people  as  the  Aztecs.  But  from  many  of  their  traditions  con- 
nected with  their  new  home  which  extended  back  far  beyond  the 
conquest  of  Mexico,  it  is  thought  by  historians  that  this  tradition 
alludes  to  some  other  war  in  which  they  took  part  against  their 
oppressors.  They  were  remarkable  for  their  size  and  symmetry  of 
form  of  their  men ;  but  like  all  the  race,  they  made  slaves  of  their 


FIFTY    YEARS.  257 

women,  imposing  every  burden  from  the  cultivation  of  their  fields  to 
the  duties  of  the  household  —  the  carrying  of  heavy  burdens  and  the 
securing  of  fuel  for  winter.  These  labors  served  to  disfigure  and 
make  their  women  to  appear  prematurely  aged  and  worn,  and  they 
seemed  an  inferior  race  when  compared  with  the  men. 

The  laws  imposed  by  their  chief  of  the  sun  were  strictly  obeyed. 
They  compelled  the  telling  of  truth  on  all  occasions]  never  to  kill, 
but  in  self-defence;  never  to  steal,  and  to  preserve  inviolate  the 
marriage-vow.  The  marriage  ceremony  was  poetic  and  impressive. 
No  girl  ever  dreamed  of  disobeying  her  parents  in  the  choice  of  a 
husband ;  nor  was  elopement  ever  heard  of  among  them  ;  nor  did 
the  young  man  presume  to  thrust  himself  upon  a  family  to  whom,  or 
to  any  member  of  whom,  he  was  not  acceptable.  But  when  the  mar- 
riage was  agreeable  to  the  families  of  both  parties  and  was  conse- 
quently determined  upon,  the  head  of  the  family  of  the  bride  went 
with  her  and  her  whole  family  to  the  house  of  the  bridegroom,  who 
there  stood  with  all  his  family  around  him,  when  the  old  man  of 
the  bridegroom's  family  welcomed  them,  by  asking :  "  Is  it  thou?  " 
"Yes,"  answered  the  other  ancient.  "Sit  down,"  continued  the 
other.  Immediately  all  were  seated,  and  a  profound  silence  for  many 
minutes  ensued.  Then  the  eldest  man  of  the  party  bid  the  groom 
and  bride  to  stand  up,  when  he  addressed  them  in  a  speech. in  which 
he  recapitulated  all  the  duties  of  man  and  wife ;  informed  them  of 
the  obligations  they  were  assuming,  and  then  concluded  with  a  lec- 
ture of  advice  as  to  their  future  lives. 

When  this  ceremony  was  concluded,  the  father  of  the  bridegroom 
handed  to  his  son  the  present  he  was  to  make  to  the  family  of  the 
bride.  Then  the  father  of  bride  stepped  up  to  the  side  of  his 
daughter,  when  the  groom  said  to  the  bride  :  "Wilt  thou  have  me 
for  thy  husband?"  The  bride  answered:  "With  all  my  heart; 
love  me  as  I  will  love  thee ;  for  thou  art  my  only  love  for  all  my 
life."  Then  holding  the  gift  above  her  head,  the  groom  said :  "  I 
love  thee ;  therefore  I  take  thee  for  my  wife,  and  this  is  the  present 
with  which  I  buy  thee,"  and  then  he  handed  the  present  to  her 
parents.  Upon  his  head  he  wore  a  tuft  of  feathers,  and  in  his  hand 
a  bow,  emblematic  of  authority  and  protection.  The  bride  held  in 
one  hand  a  green  twig  of  the  laurel-tree,  and  in  the  other  an  ear  of 
corn  —  the  twig  indicated  she  would  preserve  her  fame  ever  fair  and 
sweet  as  the  laurel  leaf;  the  corn  was  to  represent  her  capacity  to  grow 
22*  R 


258  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

it  and  prepare  it  for  his  food,  and  to  fulfil  all  the  duties  of  a  faithful 
wife.  These  ceremonies  completed,  the  bride  dropped  the  ear  of 
corn  which  she  held  in  her  right  hand,  and  tendered  that  hand  to 
the  bridegroom,  who  took  it  and  said  :  "  I  am  thy  husband."  She 
replied  :  "  I  am  thy  wife."  The  bridegroom  then  went  round  and 
gave  his  hand  to  every  member  of  the  family  of  his  wife.  He  then 
took  his  bride  by  the  arm  and  led  her  around  and  she  took  the  right 
hand  of  all  the  family  of  the  bridegroom.  This  done,  he  walked 
with  her  to  his  bed,  and  said :  "This  is  our  bed,  keep  it  undefiled." 

There  obtained  among  these  primitive  beings  a  most  curious  and 
most  disgusting  custom.  The  young  marriageable  females  were  per- 
mitted to  prostitute  themselves  for  gain,  in  order  to  provide  a  mar- 
riage portion ;  and  she  who  could  thus  enrich  herself  was  the  most 
distinguished  and  the  most  sought.  But  after  marriage,  she  was 
compelled  to  purity,  both  by  their  laws  and  by  public  sentiment ; 
and  in  all  the  intercourse  of  the  French  with  them,  no  instance  of 
infidelity  was  ever  known  in  a  wife. 

The  great  sun  was  indeed  their  Lycurgus.  If  before  his  advent 
among  them  they  had  any  laws,  these  had  become  obsolete,  and  his 
edicts  adopted  universally.  Their  traditions  represent  him  as  living 
to  extreme  old  age,  seeing  his  desendants  of  the  fourth  generation. 
These  were  all  little  suns,  and  constituted  the  nobility  of  their  nation, 
which  extended  at  one  time  to  the  country  above,  as  far  as  St.  Louis 
and  across  to  the  Wabash.  These  traditions  were  carefully  kept. 
Every  two  years  there  were  selected  from  the  most  intelligent  boys 
of  the  nation  ten,  to  whom  these  traditions  were  carefully  taught  by 
the  depositories  of  them  who  had  kept  them  best  for  the  greatest 
time.  They  were  careful  to  exact  that  no  word  or  fact  should  be 
withheld,  and  this  lesson  was  daily  taught  until  the  boy  was  a  man, 
and  every  legend  a  familiar  memory.  These  he  was  compelled  to 
repeat  daily  lest  the  memory  should  rust,  and  for  this  purpose  they 
went  forth  to  all  the  villages  repeating  all  of  these  legends  to  all  the 
people. 

There  were  others  selected  in  like  manner  to  whom  the  laws  were 
taught  as  the  traditions,  and  in  like  manner  these  were  taught  the 
'people.  In  every  community  there  was  a  little  sun  to  administer 
these  laws,  and  every  complaint  was  submitted  to  him,  and  great 
ceremony  was  observed  at  every  trial,  especially  criminal  trials.  The 
judge,  or  little  sun,  purified  himself  in  the  forest,  imploring  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  259 

enlightenment  of  the  Good  Spirit,  and  purging  away  the  influence 
of  bad  spirits  by  his  purification ;  and  when  he  felt  himself  a  fitted 
tabernacle  of  pure  justice,  he  came  fonvard  and  rendered  his  judg- 
ment in  the  presence  of  all  the  villagers  of  his  jurisdiction,  whose 
attention  was  compulsory. 

It  was  one  of  the  laws  established  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign 
of  the  Great  Sun,  that  his  posterity  should  not  marry  inter  sf,  but 
only  with  the  common  people  of  the  nation.  This  custom  was 
expelling  the  pure  blood  of  royalty  more  and  more  every  generation, 
and  long  after  the  arrival  of  the  Natchez  upon  the  Mississippi,  the 
great  and  little  suns  were  apparently  of  the  pure  blood  of  the  red 
man.  Their  traditions,  however,  preserved  the  history  of  every 
cross,  and  when  Lasalle  found  these  at  Natchez  and  the  White  Apple 
village,  nearly  every  one  could  boast  of  relationship  to  the  Great  Sun. 
At  that  time  they  had  diminished  to  an  insignificant  power,  and  were 
overawed  by  their  more  numerous  and  more  powerful  neighbors,  the 
Choctaws  and  Muscagees  or  Alabamas.  Their  legends  recorded 
this  constant  decline,  but  assigned  no  reason  for  it.  They  could  now 
not  bring  more  than  two  thousand  warriors  into  the  field.  Gayarie 
says  not  more  than  six  hundred  ;  but  those  contemporaneous  with 
planting  the  colony  of  Orleans  say,  some  two  thousand,  some  more, 
and  some  estimate  them  as  low  as  the  number  stated  in  that  admira- 
ble history  of  Louisiana  whose  author  is  so  uniformly  correct.  And 
here  let  me  acknowledge  my  obligations  to  that  accomplished  his- 
torian, and  no  less  accomplished  gentleman,  for  most  of  the  facts 
here  stated,  and  if  I  have  used  his  own  language  in  portraying  them 
to  a  great  extent,  it  was  because  it  was  so  pure  and  beautiful  I  could 
not  resist  it,  the  excuse  the  Brazilian  gave  for  stealing  the  diamond. 

With  regard  to  these  people,  their  mode  of  life  was  that  of  most 
of  the  other  tribes.  They  lived  principally  by  the  chase ;  their  only 
cultivation  was  the  Indian  corn,  pumpkins,  and  a  species  of  wild 
beans  or  peas,  perfectly  black,  until  their  intercourse  with  the  French, 
and  then  they  only  added  a  few  of  the  coarser  vegetables.  From 
whom  they  derived  the  pumpkin  is  not  known. 

Their  wars  were  not  more  frequent  or  more  destructive  than  those 
of  their  neighbors;  and  their  general  habits  were  the  same.  Still 
they  were  going  on  to  decay,  and  they  contemplated  with  stolid 
calmness  their  coming  extinction.  They  felt  it  a  destiny  not  to  be 
averted  or  avoided  by  anything  they  could  do,  and  were  content 


26O  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

with  the  excuse  of  folly  for  all  its  errors  and  sins.  //  t's  the  will  of 
God,  or  the  Great  Spirit,  as  the  Indian  phrases  it.  They  were  more 
enlightened  than  their  neighbors,  as  historians  have  stated,  because, 
I  suppose,  they  were  more  superstitious.  They  bowed  to  fate,  the 
attribute  of  superstition  everywhere,  and  made  no  effort  at  relief 
from  the  causes  of  decay. 

Their  religion,  like  all  the  aborigines  of  the  continent,  consisted 
in  the  worship  of  the  Great  Spirit  typified  in  the  sun,  to  whom  was 
addressed  their  prayers  and  all  their  devotion.  The  sacred  fire  was 
the  emblem  on  earth ;  their  Great  Sun  had  brought  it  from  the  sun 
and  given  it  as  holy  to  them  to  be  forever  preserved  and  propitiated 
by  watching  and  prayer.  In  every  village  and  settlement  they 
erected  mounds  upon  which  the  temple  of  the  sun  was  built,  and 
where  was  deposited  the  sacred  fire.  Mounds,  too,  were  built  for 
burying-places,  and  in  these  are  now  to  be  found  in  great  abundance 
the  flat  heads  and  other  bones  of  this  remarkable  people. 

They  had  a  tradition  that  an  evil  spirit  was  always  tempting  them 
to  violate  the  laws,  and  the  regulations  of  their  religious  belief. 
That  at  one  time  he  had  so  nearly  extinguished  the  holy  fire  in  their 
temples,  and  the  love  of  the  sun  in  their  hearts,  that  the  Great  Spirit 
came  and  fought  with  them  against  him,  until  finally  he  was  con- 
quered and  chained  in  a  deep  cave,  whence  he  still  continued  to 
send  out  little  devils  to  tempt  and  torment  their  people.  It  was  these 
who  brought  disease  and  death  ;  these  who  tempted  to  lie,  steal,  and 
kill ;  disobedience  in  their  wives  when  they  refused  to  perform  their 
duties  or  became  bellicose,  as  wives  sometimes  will,  of  every  people 
on  earth.  It  was  a  trite  saying,  shut  up  the  cave  in  your  heart  and 
smother  or  put  out  the  bad  spirit.  It  was  a  belief  that  these  imps  or 
little  devils  found  much  more  easy  access  to  the  caves  in  the  hearts 
of  women  than  into  those  of  men,  and  that  they  encouraged  them 
to  come  and  nestle  there.  Is  the  belief  alone  the  Indian's?  There 
are  some  within  my  knowledge  whose  experience  at  home  might 
readily  yield  belief  to  this  faith  of  the  savage. 

Their  traditions,  too,  told  them  of  the  great  waters  coming  over 
all  the  land,  and  destroying  all  the  inhabitants  except  those  who  had 
boats ;  and  that  the  latter  were  carried  away  by  the  waters  and  left  by 
them  on  all  the  land  that  was  permitted  again  to  come  above  the 
waters;  and  that  by  that  means  people  were  planted  everywhere. 
These  traditions  are  quite  as  rational  as  most  of  the  speculations  as 


FIFTY     YEARS.  26l 

to  how  the  earth  was  populated,  especially  that  which  we  learn  in 
the  cradle,  of  Adam  and  Eve's  mission. 

It  was  death,  by  their  law,  to  permit  the  holy  fire  to  become 
extinguished  in  the  temples.  To  prevent  such  a  calamity,  it  was  pre- 
served in  two  temples  at  different  points ;  when  accidentally  extin- 
guished in  one,  it  was  to  be  obtained  from  the  other ;  but  not 
peacefully.  The  keepers  must  resist  and  blood  must  be  spilt  in  order 
to  obtain  it.  Soon  after  they  became  acquainted  with,  the  French, 
the  fire  was  extinguished  in  the  great  temple  at  the  White  Apple 
village  by  the  lazy  watcher.  Knowing  his  fate,  he  stealthily  lighted 
it  from  profane  fire.  Great  misfortunes  following  this,  and  shortly 
thereafter  the  loss  of  the  holy  fire  in  the  other  temple  near  the  Grind- 
stone ford,  on  the  Bayou  Pierre,  in  Claiborne  County,  Mississippi, 
they  sought  after  the  legal  and  holy  manner  to  procure  fire  from 
the  White  Apple  village.  Yet  the  calamities  continued.  The  watch 
who  had  suffered  the  fire  to  fail  in  the  first  temple,  conscience  smit- 
ten, confessed  his  sin  and  paid  its  penalty. 

'  They  now  had  only  profane  fire,  and  the  whole  nation  was  in  the 
agonies  of  despair.  The  cause  of  all  their  calamities  was  now  no 
longer  a  secret.  They  extinguished  the  profane  fire,  and  in  prayer, 
fasting,  and  continued  oblations,  they  propitiated  the  sun  to  send 
them  fire  that  was  holy,  to  protect  and  preserve  them.  It  was  the 
folly  of  ignorance  and  superstition,  and  availed  nothing ;  but,  like  all 
prayer,  was  considered  a  pious  duty,  though  nothing  was  ever  known 
to  result  therefrom,  and  nature  moved  steadily  and  undeviatingly 
forward  in  obedience  to  the  fixed,  immutable,  and  eternal  laws 
affirmed  by  the  all -wise  Creator.  There  was  gloom  upon  every 
brow  and  despair  in  every  heart.  The  curse  pronounced  by  the  first 
Great  Sun  had  come — destruction  and  death  to  all  the  Natchez  — 
because  of  the  extinction  of  the  holy  fire.  At  length  a  tree  was 
stricken  by  lightning  near  the  White  Apple  village  temple,  and  set 
on  fire.  The  men  of  the  temple  saw  the  answer  to  their  prayers  in 
this,  and  hastened  to  re-kindle  the  holy  flame  from  this  fire,  so 
miraculously  sent  them  from  heaven.  It  was  to  them  a  miracle, 
because,  though  perfectly  in  obedience  to  natural  laws,  they  did  not 
comprehend  them,  and  like  unto  all  people  under  similar  circum- 
stances, all  in  nature  is  a  miracle  which  they  do  not  understand,  and 
cannot  satisfactorily  explain.  But  there  was  no  efficiency  found  in 
this,  and  the  trouble  went  forward. 


262  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

The  French  had  come  among  them,  and  taught  them  the  value  and 
corrupting  influence  of  money.  Boats  had  ascended  and  descended 
the  Great  River,  and  communication,  through  this  channel,  had  been 
established  with  Canada.  They  were  grasping,  by  degrees,  the  lands, 
building  forts  and  peopling  the  country.  They  had  introduced  the 
black  man,  and  the  wiser  of  the  Natchez  saw  in  the  future  the  doom 
of  their  race.  They  saw  the  feuds  fomented  between  the  numerous 
tribes  along  the  coast  of  the  Mississippi  by  the  French,  and  the 
destruction  of  these  by  bloody  wars.  They  saw,  too,  to  offend  the 
French  was  sure  to  bring  destruction  upon  the  offending  party. 
Their  neighbors  were  made,  through  French  influence,  to  fall  upon 
and  destroy  them.  The  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  —  great  nations, 
having  multitudes  of  warriors  —  were  under  the  dominion  of  these 
pale-faced  intruders,  and  they  feared  they  might  be  turned  upon 
them  in  an  unsuspecting  hour. 

There  was  among  the  Natchez  a  mighty  chief  and  warrior.  He 
was  of  great  stature  and  fame,  being  seven  feet  high  and  powerfully 
proportioned.  He  had  a  large  beard,  and  was  called  the  chief  of 
the  Beard,  because  he  was  the  only  man  of  all  the  tribe  who  had  this 
facial  ornament  or  incumbrance.  He  was  a  mighty  warrior  and  was 
wise  in  counsel.  He  believed  he  saw  great  evil  to  the  Natchez  in  the 
increase  of  the  French  and  the  extension  of  French  power.  He 
knew,  and  told  his  people,  this  was  the  foreboding  of  the  extinction 
of  the  holy  fire.  He  went  forth  with  the  chief  of  the  Walnut  Hills, 
named  Alahoplechia,  and  the  chief  of  the  White  Clay,  Oyelape, 
among  their  neighbors  of  other  tribes,  the  Chicasaws  and  Choctaws, 
preaching  a  crusade  against  the  French  ;  urging  them  to  unite  with 
the  Natchez,  the  Homochittas,  and  the  Alabamas,  and  to  attack  and 
destroy  the  last  man  of  the  French  settlements  at  Mobile,  Boloxy, 
Ship  Island,  and  New  Orleans,  as  they  were  mischievous  intruders 
from  across  the  Salt  Lake,  whence  they  were  yearly  bringing  their 
people  to  rob  them  of  their  homes  and  appropriate  them. 

There  had  come  to  them  red  men  from  the  Wabash  and  Musk- 
ingum,  who  bore  to  them  the  sad  news  of  the  encroachments  of  the 
pale-faces  upon  their  people  and  their  hunting-grounds.  "Soon," 
said  the  bearded  chief,  who  was  the  leading  spirit  of  the  mission, 
"  these  white  faces  will  meet  along  the  Great  River.  They  will  forget 
the  arrow  of  truth  and  the  tomahawk  of  justice.  They  will  only  know 
power  and  oppression.  Then  they  will  be  mighty  as  the  hurricane 


FIFTY     YEARS.  263 

when  the  Great  Sun  hides  his  face  in  wrath  and  the  tempest  tears  the 
forest.  Who  can  resist  him  then  ?  The  holy  fire  has  been  sent  again 
from  heaven,  from  the  Great  Spirit,  our  God,  the  Great  Sun.  It  tells 
us  to  save  our  people  from  this  fearful  destruction  which  comes  with 
the  white  man.  These  pale-faces  are  cunning  ;  they  must  not  know 
of  our  union.  We  must  not  counsel  long,  or  they  will  learn  our  inten- 
tions. We  must  strike  at  once.  The  Choctaws  must  strike  at  Mobile. 
At  the  same  moment,  Homochittas,  Boloxies,  and  Homas,  you  must 
strike  at  Boloxi.  The  Chickasaws  and  the  Natchez  will  fall  upon  New 
Orleans  and  Rosalie."  (The  latter  is  the  Indian  name  for  what  is 
now  Natchez.)  His  advice  was  startling,  but  unheeded.  In  order 
to  precipitate  a  war,  on  his  return  with  the  chiefs  who  accompanied 
him  and  two  warriors,  they  murdered  a  trading-party  of  French,  at 
the  hills  where  is  now  Warrenton,  in  Warren  County,  Mississippi. 

This  murder  was  communicated  to  the  French  who,  uncfer  Bien- 
ville,  were  sent  by  Cordelac,  then  Governor  of  Louisiana,  to  take 
revenge,  by  waging  war  upon  the  Natchez.  Bienville  was  hated  by 
Cordelac,  because  he  had  refused  the  hand  of  his  daughter,  formally 
tendered  him  by  her  father.  He  only  gave  the  young  and  sagacious 
commander  a  small  force  with  which  to  wage  this  war  —  such  an  one 
as  would  have  been  overwhelmed  at  once  had  he  attempted  open 
field  movements.  Knowing  this,  he  proceeded  to  an  island  opposite 
the  village  of  the  Tunicas,  where  he  entrenched  himself  and  invited 
a  conference.  Three  spies  were  sent  by  the  Natchez  to  reconnoitre ; 
but  they  were  baffled  by  Bienville  with  superior  cunning.  They  were 
sent  back  as  not  the  equals  of  Bienville,  and  with  a  message  to  the 
Great  Sun  that  he  must  come  with  his  chiefs,  that  he  desired  to  estab- 
lish trading-posts  among  them,  and  would  only  treat  with  the  first  in 
authority.  They  came  with  a  consciousness  that  the  French  were 
ignorant  of  these  murders,  and  were  immediately  arrested  and  ironed. 
Bienville  told  them  at  once  of  the  murder,  and  of  his  determination 
to  have  the  murderers  and  to  punish  them.  He  had  the  Great  Sun, 
the  Stung  Serpent,  and  the  Little  Sun.  The  latter  was  sent  to  bring 
the  heads  of  the  murderers,  and  he  returned  with  three  heads;  but 
Bienville,  after  examining  these,  told  the  chiefs  they  had  treach- 
erously deceived  him,  and  that  those  were  not  the  heads  of  the  mur- 
derers. After  a  night's  consultation  they  concluded  it  was  impossible 
to  deceive  him,  and  in  the  morning  confessed  the  whole  truth,  pro- 
posing to  send  Stung  Serpent  to  bring  the  real  murderers.  But  knowing 


264  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

the  wily  character  of  this  chief  and  his  influence  with  his  tribe,  he 
was  not  permitted  to  go.  The  young  Sun  was  dispatched,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  the  chief  of  the  Beard  and  the  chief  of  the  Wal- 
nut Hills,  with  the  two  warriors ;  but  Oyelape  had  fled  and  could  not 
be  had.  He  had  probed  to  the  truth  of  the  French  expedition;  and 
being  guilty,  cunningly  and  wisely  made  his  escape. 

The  death  sentence  was  passed  upon  these,  and  the  two  warriors 
were  shot  at  once;  but  the  two  chiefs  were  reserved  for  execution  to 
another  day.  Upon  the  sentence  being  communicated  to  them  they 
commenced  to  chant  the  death-song  of  their  people,  which  they  con- 
tinued to  do  throughout  all  the  time,  night  and  day,  until  led  forth 
for  execution. 

The  Great  Sun,  Stung  Serpent,  his  brother,  and  all  the  other 
Indians  were  brought  out  to  witness  the  execution.  When  the  two 
condemned  chiefs  were  brought  forward,  these  witnesses  of  their 
death  sang  the  death-song  ;  but  the  chief  of  the  Beard  looked  sternly 
at  them,  and  defiantly  at  the  executioners ;  and  taking  his  positon, 
turned  to  his  people  and,  addressing  them,  said  : 

"  '  Let  there  be  joy  in  the  hearts  of  the  Natchez.  A  child  is  born 
to  them  of  the  race  of  their  Suns.  A  boy  is  born  with  a  beard  on 
his  chin.  The  prodigy  still  works  on  from  generation  to  generation.' 
So  sang  the  warriors  of  my  tribe  when  I  sprang  from  my  mother's 
womb,  and  the  shrill  cry  of  the  eagle,  in  the  heavens,  was  heard  in 
joyful 'response.  Hardly  fifteen  summers  had  passed  over  my  head 
when  my  beard  had  grown  long  and  glossy.  I  looked  around,  and 
saw  I  was  the  only  red  man  that  had  this  awful  mark  on  his  face,  and 
I  interrogated  my  mother  and  she  said  : 

" '  Son  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Beard, 
Thou  shall  know  the  mystery 
In  which  thy  curious  eye  wishes  to  pry, 
When  thy  beard  from  black  becomes  red.' 

"Let  there  be  joy  in  the  hearts  of  the  Natchez  !  A  hunter  is  born 
to  them  — a  hunter  of  the  race  of  the  Suns.  Ask  of  the  bears,  of  the 
buffaloes,  of  the  tigers,  and  of  the  swift-footed  deer,  whose  arrows 
they  fear  most !  They  tremble  and  cower  when  the  footstep  of  the 
hunter  with  the  beard  on  his  chin  is  heard  on  the  heath.  But  I  was 
born  with  brains  in  my  head  as  well  as  a  beard  on  my  chin,  and  I 
pondered  on  my  mother's  words.  One  day,  when  a  panther  which 


FIFTY     YEARS.  265 

I  slaughtered  had  torn  my  breast,  I  painted  my  beard  with  my  own 
blood,  and  I  stood  smiling  before  her.  She  said  nothing ;  but  her 
eye  gleamed  with  wild  delight,  and  she  took  me  to  the  temple  when, 
standing  by  the  sacred  fire,  she  thus  sang  to  me : 

" '  Son  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Beard, 
Thou  shall  know  the  mystery, 
Since,  true  to  thy  nature,  with  thine  own  blood 
Thy  black  beard  thou  hast  turned  to  red.' 

"  'Let  there  be  joy  in  the  hearts  of  the  Natchez;  for  a  mighty 
chief,  worthy  of  the  race  of  their  Suns,  has  been  born  to  them  in  thee, 
my  son  —  a  noble  chief  with  a  beard  on  his  chin.  Listen  to  the 
explanation  of  this  prodigy.  In  days  of  old  a  Natchez  maid  of  the 
race  of  their  Suns  was  on  a  visit  to  the  Mobelians.  There  she  soon 
loved  the  youthful  chief  of  that  nation,  and  her  wedding-day  was 
nigh,  when  there  came  from  the  big  Salt  Lake  on  the  south  a  host  of 
bearded  men,  who  sacked  the  town,  slew  the  red  chief  with  their  thun- 
der, and  one  of  those  accursed  evil  spirits  used  violence  to  the  maid 
when  her  lover's  corpse  was  hardly  cold  in  death.  She  found  in  sor- 
row her  way  back  to  the  Natchez  hills,  where  she  became  a  mother, 
and  lo !  the  boy  had  a  beard  on  his  chin,  and  when  he  grew  old 
enough  to  understand  his  mother's  words  she  whispered  in  his  ear : 

" '  Son  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Beard, 
Born  from  a  bloody  day, 
Bloody  be  thy  hand,  and  bloody  be  thy  life 
Until  thy  black  beard  with  blood  becomes  red.' 

"  Let  there  be  joy  in  the  hearts  of  the  Natchez.  In  my  first  ances- 
tor a  long  line  of  the  first  of  hunters,  chiefs,  and  warriors  of  the  race 
of  their  Suns  had  been  born  to  them  with  beards  on  their  chins. 
What  chase  was  ever  unsuccessful  over  which  they  presided  ?  When 
they  spoke  in  the  council  of  the  wise  men  of  the  nation,  did  it  not 
always  turn  out  that  their  advice,  whether  adopted  or  rejected,  was 
the  best  in  the  end  ?  In  what  battle  were  they  ever  defeated  ?  When 
were  they  known  to  be  worn  out  with  fatigue  —  with  hardship, 
hunger  or  thirst,  heat  or  cold,  either  on  land  or  water  ?  Who  ever 
could  stem  as  they  the  rushing  current  of  the  Father  of  rivers  ?  Who 
can  count  the  number  of  scalps  which  they  brought  from  distant 
expeditions  ?  Their  names  have  always  been  famous  in  the  wigwams 
23 


266  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

of  all  the  red  nations.  They  have  struck  terror  into  the  breasts  of 
the  boldest  enemies  of  the  Natchez ;  and  mothers,  when  their  sons 
paint  their  bodies  in  the  colors  of  war,  say  to  them : 

" '  Fight  where,  and  with  whom  you  please ; 

But  beware,  oh !  beware  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Beard. 

Give  way  to  them  as  you  would  to  death, 

Or  their  black  beards  with  your  blood  will  be  red.' 

"Let  there  be  joy  in  the  hearts  of  the  Natchez.  When  the  first 
chief  of  the  Beard  first  trimmed  the  sacred  fire  in  the  temple,  a  voice 
was  heard  which  said :  '  As  long  as  there  lives  a  chief  of  the  race  of 
the  Suns  with  a  beard  on  his  chin,  no  evil  can  happen  to  the  Natchez 
nation ;  but  if  the  white  race  should  ever  resume  the  blood  which  it 
gave  in  a  bloody  day,  woe,  three  times  woe,  to  the  Natchez  !  Of  them 
nothing  will  remain  but  the  shadow  of  a  name.'  Thus  spake  the 
invisible  prophet.  Years  rolled  on,  years  thick  on  ye^rs,  and  none 
of  the  accursed  white-faces  were  seen ;  but  they  appeared  at  last, 
wrapped  up  in  their  pale  skins  like  shrouds  of  the  dead,  and  the 
father  of  my  father,  whom  tradition  had  taught  to  guard  against  the 
predicted  danger,  slew  two  of  the  hated  strangers,  and  my  father,  in 
his  turn,  killed  four. 

" '  Praise  be  to  the  chiefs  of  the  Beard, 

Who  knew  how  to  avenge  their  old  ancestral  injury, 
When  with  the  sweet  blood  of  a  white  foe 
Their  black  beards  they  proudly  dyed  red.' 

"  Let  there  be  joy  in  the  hearts  of  the  Natchez.  When  I  saw  the 
glorious  light  of  day  there  was  born  to  them  a  great  warrior  of  the 
race  of  their  Suns  —  a  warrior  and  a  chief  with  a  beard  on  his  chin. 
The  pledge  of  protection,  of  safety,  and  of  glory  stood  embodied  in 
me.  When  1  shouted  my  first  war-whoop  the  owl  hooted  and  smelt 
the  ghosts  of  my  enemies,  the  wolves  howled,  and  the  carrion  vul- 
tures shrieked  with  joy  j  for  they  knew  their  food  was  coming,  and  I 
fed  them  with  Chickasaws'  flesh  and  with  Choctaws'  flesh  until  they 
were  gorged  with  the  flesh  of  the  red  man.  A  kind  master  and  pur- 
veyor I  was  to  them  —  the  poor,  dumb  creatures  that  I  loved.  But 
lately  I  have  given  them  more  dainty  food.  I  boast  of  having  done 
better  than  my  father.  Five  Frenchmen  have  I  killed,  and  my  only 
regret  in  dying  is,  that  it  will  prevent  me  from  killing  more. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  267 

" '  Ha !  ha !  ha !  that  was  game  worthy  of  the  chief  of  the  Beard ! 
How  lightly  he  danced.     Ho!  ho!  ho! 
How  gladly  he  shouted.     Ha!  ha!  ha! 
Each  time  with  French  blood  his  beard  became  red.' 

"  Sorrow  in  the  hearts  of  the  Natchez  !  The  great  hunter  is  no 
more.  The  wise  chief  is  going  to  meet  his  fathers.  The  indomita- 
ble warrior  will  no  more  raise  his  hatchet  in  defence  of  the  children 
of  the  Sun.  O  burning  shame  !  He  was  betrayed  by  his  brother- 
chiefs,  who  sold  his  blood.  If  they  had  followed  his  advice  they 
would  have  united  with  the  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  and  all  the  other 
red  nations,  and  they  would  have  slain  all  the  French  dogs  that  came 
prowling  and  stealing  over  the  beautiful  face  of  our  country.  But 
there  was  too  much  of  the  woman  in  their  cowardly  hearts.  Well 
and  good  !  Let  the  will  of  fate  be  accomplished.  The  white  race 
will  soon  resume  the  blood  which  it  gave,  and  then  the  glory  and 
the  very  existence  of  the  Natchez  nation  will  have  departed  forever 
with  the  chief  of  the  Beard ;  for  I  am  the  last  of  my  race,  and  my 
blood  flows  in  no  other  human  veins.  O  Natchez,  Natchez  !  remem- 
ber the  prophet's  voice  !  I  am  content  to  die ;  for  I  leave  no  one 
behind  me  but  the  doomed,  while  I  go  to  revel  with  my  brave 
ancestors. 

" '  They  will  recognize  their  son  in  the  chief  of  the  BearjJ ; 
They  will  welcome  him  to  their  glorious  homestead 
When  they  see  so  many  scalps  at  his  girdle, 
And  his  black  beard  with  French  blood  painted  red.' " 

He  stood  up  in  proud  defiance  before  the  admiring  French ;  his 
noble  form  expanded  to  its  full  proportions,  hatred  in  his  heart  and 
triumph  in  his  eyes.  Facing  his  foes,  he  viewed  the  platoon  selected 
to  deal  him  his  death,  and  lifted  his  eyes  and  hands  to  the  sun.  The 
officer  gave  the  command,  the  platoon  fired  as  one  man,  and  the 
great  chief  of  the  Beard  passed  away. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  difficulties  with  the  French,  and  also 
the  commencement  of  the  utter  destruction  of  the  Natchez.  War 
succeeded  war,  until  the  last  of  this  people,  few  in  number,  broke  up 
from  the  Washita,  whither  they  had  fled  for  security  years  before, 
and  went,  as  they  fondly  hoped,  too  far  into  the  bosom  of  the  deep 
West  to  be  found  again  by  the  white-skins.  But  Clarke  and  Lewis 
found  them  high  up  on  the  Missouri,  still  preserving  the  holy  fire, 


268  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

the  flat  heads,  and  their  hatred  of  the  white  race.  Their  bones  are 
even  now  turned  up  by  the  plough  near  the  mounds  of  their  making, 
and  soon  these  mounds  will  be  all  that  is  left  to  speak  of  the  once 
powerful  Natchez.  I  have  stood  upon  the  great  mound  of  their 
temple  at  the  White  Apple  village,  forty  years  ago,  then  covered 
with  immense  forest-trees,  at  the  graves  of  the  great  grandfather 
and  mother  of  my  children.  To  these  was  donated,  in  1780,  by  the 
Spanish  Government,  the  land  on  which  the  temple  and  the  village 
stood.  It  is  a  beautiful  spot  in  the  centre  of  a  lovely  and  most  pic- 
turesque country.  It  was  here  these  Indians  feasted  the  great  La 
Salle  and  his  party  when  descending  the  Mississippi.  They  were  the 
first  white  men  that  had  descended  the  river,  and  the  first  white  men 
the  Natchez  had  ever  seen. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

EXPLORATION    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. 

CHICAGO— CRYING  INDIANS  — CHICKASAWS  —  DE  Soro — FEAST  OFTHE  GREAT 
SUN  —  CANE  KNIVES  —  LOVE-STRICKEN  INDIAN  MAIDEN  —  RAPE  OF  THE 
NATCHEZ  —  MAN'S  WILL  —  SUBJUGATION  OF  THE  WATERS  —  THE  BLACK 

MAN'S  MISSION — ITS  DECADE. 

LA  SALLE,  who  first  discoverd  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  was  a  man  of  most  remarkable  energy  and  enterprise. 
He  had  been  engaged  in  commercial  pursuits  for  some  time  in 
Canada;  but,  seized  with  the  spirit  of  adventure  —  very  probably 
inspired  by  the  reports  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  who  were  going 
and  returning  from  the  vast  wilderness — and  inspired  with  the  belief 
(then  common)  that  the  rivers  west,  and  particularly  the  great  river 
found  by  De  Soto,  debouched  into  the  Pacific  Ocean,  he  deter- 
mined to  learn  the  truth,  and  projected  and  commenced  the  ascent 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  navigation  of  the  lakes  as  a  means  of 
reaching  the  Mississippi.  It  required  almost  superhuman  daring  to 
undertake  such  an  enterprise ;  but  there  was  enough  in  La  Salle  to 
accomplish  anything  possible  to  human  capacity.  His  followers,  like 


FIFTY   YEARS.  269 

himself,  were  fearless  and  determined  and,  with  a  few  small  boats, 
or  skiffs,  he  commenced  his  perilous  adventure.  It  was  like  walking 
in  the  dark  over  uncertain  ground ;  for  every  step  was  over  unex- 
plored territory,  the  moment  he  passed  the  establishments  of  the 
Jesuits,  who  were  then  pioneering  to  propagate  their  creed  among 
the  aborigines  of  the  new  continent. 

His  first  winter  was  spent  on  the  spot,  or  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  where  Chicago  now  stands.  Here  he  invited  to  his 
camp  the  neighboring  Indians,  and  endeavored  to  learn  as  much  as 
possible  of  the  geography  of  the  country  he  was  about  to  explore. 
Parties  were  sent  out  with  these  Indians  to  ascertain  if  there  was  any 
stream  or  water-communication  leading  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the 
West,  and  which  might  connect  it  with  the  Mississippi.  Sufficient  of 
the  language  of  the  tribes  about  him  had  been  acquired  to  establish  a 
means  of  intelligent  intercourse  with  them.  They  were  curious  to 
know  the  objects  of  the  visit  of  the  white  strangers  to  their  country. 
Always  suspicious  of  strangers  —  supposing  all,  like  themselves,  treach- 
erous and  cruel  —  they  kept  on  the  alert  and  were  chary  of  giving  any 
information  they  might  possess  as  to  this,  or  any  other  matters  about 
which  the  white  men  asked ;  but,  watchful  of  their  movements,  and 
seeing  from  their  explorations  their  intentions,  they  became  con- 
vinced of  the  sincerity  of  their  inquiries,  and  readily  pointed  out  the 
portage  dividing  the  waters  of  Chicago  Creek  and  those  'of  the  Illi- 
nois River. 

When  the  spring  came,  and  the  snows  had  melted  away,  and  the 
boats  were  all  over  the  portage,  with  the  assistance  of  the  savages,  the 
expedition  was  renewed  in  the  descent  of  the  Illinois.  The  Indians 
had  been  so  kindly  treated,  and  so  sincerely  dealt  with,  that  every 
suspicion  that  made  them  fear  the  whites  was  dissipated,  and  they 
were  loath  to  part  from  them,  and  many  accompanied  the  partynntil 
they  were  about  entering  the  territory  of  hostile  neighbors.  Of  these 
they  seemed  to  entertain  great  fears,  and  every  means  of  persuasion 
and  warning  were  used  to  prevent  their  white  friends  hazarding  them- 
selves to  the  power  of  these  enemies.  When  the  last  were  to  leave, 
they  manifested  more  emotion  than  is  usual  with  the  savage,  and  one 
of  La  Salle's  party  more  facetious  than  the  Indian  designated  them 
the  Crying  Indians. 

La  Salle  was  a  wise  as  well  as  a  bold  adventurer.  His  policy  with 
all  the  tribes  he  encountered  was  kindness  and  truth.  These  were 
23* 


2;0  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

human  beings,  and  he  correctly  judged  influenced  by  the  motives  and 
impulses  of  men.  They  had  never  seen  white  men  before,  and  there 
could  be  no  cause  of  quarrel,  and  there  was  little  in  the  possession 
of  the  whites,  the  use  of  which  was  known  to  the  Indian  to  tempt 
his  cupidity.  He  manifested  no  fears  in  approaching  them.  Their 
curiosity  tempted  them  to  come  to  him,  and  once  met,  his  kindness 
and  gentleness  won  them;  and  he  experienced  no  opposition  or 
trouble  from  any  he  met ;  but  succeeded  in  gaining  much  informa- 
tion from  his  communications  with  them.  When  he  reached  the 
Mississippi  he  began  to  doubt  the  accepted  theory  of  its  discharging 
its  waters  into  the  Pacific,  and  upon  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
souri and  counseling  with  the  chief  of  the  tribe  he  met  there,  he  at 
once  determined  the  speculation  a  delusion,  and  decided  to  prose- 
cute his  journey  to  the  mouth  of  the  mighty  stream,  now  with  almost 
irresistible  impetuosity  hurrying  on  his  little  flotilla.  This  chief  by 
many  signs  and  diagrams  marked  with  his  finger  upon  the  sand  of 
the  beach,  described  the  country  out  of  which  flowed  the  Missouri, 
and  into  which  went  the  Mississippi,  and  seemed  to  comprehend  at 
least  the  extent  of  its  constantly  accumulating  waters  and  great 
length.  Like  all  the  other  savages,  he  represented  the  dangers 
below  as  being  too  formidable  for  the  small  party  of  La  Salle.  He 
described  the  Natchez  Indians  and  gave  them  a  terrible  character  ; 
then  the  monsters  of  the  woods  and  the  waters.  He  marked  the 
form  of  the  tiger,  the  bear,  and  the  alligator  and  described  them  as 
aggressive  and  ferocious.  Taking  a  handful  of  sand  he  scattered  it 
on  the  boat's  floor  or  bottom,  and  pointing  to  the  separate  particles, 
attempted  to  explain  by  this  means  the  countless  numbers  of  these 
Indians,  and  monsters  of  the  country  below.  Here  was  his  first 
information  of  the  existence  of  the  Natchez,  but  his  information 
augmented  as  he  descended  the  river.  At  the  bluffs,  where  now  is 
Memphis,  he  encountered  the  Chickasaws  and  learned  of  the  visit 
of  De  Soto  to  that  point,  and  of  his  death.  These  Indians  warned 
him  of  the  dangers  he  had  to  encounter.  They  had  had  trouble 
with  De  Soto  and  were  chary  of  their  intercourse  with  the  whites,  but 
manifested  no  hostility. 

The  next  tribe  of  Indians  seen  was  at  the  Walnut  Hills,  now  Vicks- 
burg.  Their  flat  heads  told  hire,  he  had  reached  the  country  of 
that  formidable  nation,  but  he  held  no  communication  with  them. 
Landing  at  the  great  bluff  or  Natchez,  he  found  there  quite  a  village. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  27! 

The  natives  approached  him  manifesting  the  kindest  and  most  hos- 
pitable intentions.  For  some  days  he  delayed,  to  learn  as  much  as 
possible  from  these  people  in  the  observation  of  their  character  and 
the  topography  and  peculiarities  of  the  country  they  were  inhabiting. 
Runners  had  been  dispatched  to  the  Great  Sun  at  the  White  Apple 
village,  to  inform  him  of  the  advent  of  these  pale-faced  strangers, 
with  beard  on  their  chins.  Like  information  was  communicated  to 
the  towns  on  Cole's  Creek  and  further  in  the  interior.  La  Salle  was 
furnished  with  pilots  and  requested  to  drop  down  to  the  White  Cliffs, 
now  known  as  Ellis'  Cliffs,  eighteen  miles  below  Natchez,  where  a 
delegation  would  meet  and  conduct  him  to  the  White  Apple  village. 
These  pilots  caused  the  landing  of  the  party  at  the  mouth  of  St. 
Catharine's  Creek,  a  point  much  nearer  the  village  than  the  cliffs,  and 
from  whence  it  was  much  more  easily  approached.  Thence  they  con- 
ducted them  to  the  village  and  temple  of  the  Great  Sun.  They  came 
by  surprise,  and  there  was  manifested  some  suspicions  of  the  motive. 
But  being  informed  it  was  the  work  of  the  pilots,  all  were  satisfied 
and  a  messenger  dispatched  for  the  great  escort  awaiting  the  party  at 
White  Cliffs. 

There  were  great  preparations  made  for  a  solemn  feast.  Game  in 
abundance  had  been  collected :  the  meat  of  the  deer  and  the  bear 
and  every  variety  of  the  wild-fowl  peculiar  to  the  country  and  season. 
These  were  spread  out  upon  tables  made  of  the  wild-cane,  placed 
upon  poles  sustained  "by  posts  driven  into  the  ground,  and  covered 
with  neatly  dressed  skins  of  the  bear,  elk,  and  buffalo.  There  were 
fish  in  abundance,  the  paupaw  and  the  berries  which  grew  abundantly 
in  the  forest.  The  Great  Sun  led  La  Salle  to  the  centre  of  the  square 
formed  by  the  tables,  where  one  had  been  prepared  for  him  and  the 
great  ruler  of  the  Natchez.  Rude  seats  were  arranged  only  for  these 
two.  The  Little  Suns,  or  smaller  chiefs  of  surrounding  villages, 
assembled  with  the  great  warriors  and  whites  accompanying  the 
expedition  at  the  tables  forming  the  square.  These  Indians  had 
knives  formed  from  the  wild  cane  of  the  country  and  hardened  in  the 
fire,  which  were  used  for  carving  their  meats  and  other  like  purposes, 
one  of  these  was  placed  in  the  hand  of  every  white  man.  The  Great 
Sun  standing  up,  looked  reverently  upon  the  sun  for  a  few  moments. 
Then  lifting  his  hands,  placed  them  on  the  head  of  La  Salle.  This 
was  imitated  by  the  Little  Suns  placing  their  hands  upon  the  heads  of 
all  the  whites,  and  when  the  chief  or  Great  Sun  removed  his  hands, 


2/2  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

and  said,  "Eat,"  the  Little  Suns  did  likewise,  and  the  feast  com- 
menced. These  cane  knives,  however,  were  comparatively  useless 
in  the  hands  of  the  French,  and  laying  them  down,  they  took  from 
the  belts  at  their  sides  the  large  hunting-knives  they  carried.  This 
movement  was  so  simultaneous,  that  alarm  was  apparent  in  every 
Indian  face  and  a  movement  was  made  by  the  Indians  as  if  to  leave 
the  table ;  but  they  were  soon  reassured  when  they  saw  the  use  to 
which  they  were  applied.  They  watched  the  ease  with  which  these 
cut  through  the  flesh  and  cleaved  the  smaller  bones  of  their  repast, 
and  expressed  their  astonishment  in  asking  where  the  canes  grew 
from  which  they  were  made  —  indicating  conclusively  that  they  had 
never  before  seen  a  metallic  knife,  and  probably  never  before  had 
seen  iron  or  steel.  When  the  feast  had  concluded,  La  Salle  was  led 
to  a  lodge  prepared  for  him,  and  all  his  party  were  shown  to  places 
prepared  for  them,  to  repose  after  the  meal.  Upon  the  males 
retiring,  the  women  came  forth  cleanly  clad  and  removed  everything 
from  the  tables. 

This  was  the  first  view  the  whites  had  of  the  Natchez  women. 
When  their  work  was  completed,  they  commenced  to  chant  a  song 
in  slow  and  measured  tones ;  soon,  however,  it  quickened  into  merry 
cadences  and  the  young  females  commenced  a  wild,  fantastic  dance. 
The  older  sang  on,  keeping  time  by  slapping  their  hands  and  a  swing- 
ing movement  of  the  head  and  body  right  and  left.  Apparently,  at 
the  termination  of  a  stanza,  they  would  stoop  suddenly  forward  and 
slap  the  hands  upon  each  thigh,  uttering  at  the  same  moment  a  shrill 
cry,  when  the  dancers  would  leap  with  astonishing  agility  high  in  the 
air  and,  alighting,  stand  perfectly  still.  This  exhibition  called  the 
French  from  their  repose,  who  seemed  delighted,  and  very  soon 
joined  in  the  dance ;  mirth  excited  mirth,  and  -in  a  little  while  the 
village  was  in  a  complete  uproar.  The  young  warriors,  however,  were 
seen  to  scowl  whenever  the  French  approached  too  nigh  the  women, 
and  especially  when  they  took  their  hands  and  turned  them  around. 
The  French  were  not  slow  to  perceive  this,  nor  were  they  mistaken 
in  the  delight  it  afforded  the  girls.  The  timidity  of  the  latter  soon 
disappeared  and  each  lass  singled  out  a  beau,  and  was  quite  familiar 
with  him.  The  French  remained  for  some  days  enjoying  the  hospi- 
tality of  the  Natchez,  returning  to  their  boats  and  to  the  opposite 
shore  of  the  river  at  night  for  greater  security. 

Among  the  French  there  was  one,  a  stalwart  young  fellow,  who 


FIFTY     YEARS.  273 

had  made  the  conquest  of  a  heart  among  the  maidens,  and  was  sur- 
prised late  at  night  to  find  she  had  swum  the  Mississippi  to  place 
herself  by  his  side  at  the  camp-fire.  She  implored  him  to  remain 
with  the  Natchez  and  become  a  Great  Sun,  that  her  family  was  one 
of  great  influence  at  the  White  Clay  village  of  which  she  was  the 
belle,  and  she  would  marry  him.  She  was  rich,  and  the  favorite  of 
the  Little  Sun  of  her  town,  who  had  given  her  great  presents.  But 
Crapaud  was  aware  of  the  price  of  these  gifts,  and  though  he  did 
not  refuse,  was  not  inclined  to  the  union,  or  to  remain  with  her  peo- 
ple. He  promised,  however,  to  see  her  to-morrow,  and  told  her  if 
he  could  prevail  on  some  of  his  companions  to  remain,  he  would; 
but  insisted  if  they  would  not,  she  must  consent  to  follow  him  and 
provide  a  girl  for  each  of  his  companions,  who  would  accompany 
them  to  their  homes,  which  he  made  very  lovely  in  his  description. 
They  were  standing  now  on  the  bank  of  the  river  and  day  was 
approaching.  She  pointed  to  the  planet  just  above  the  horizon,  and 
then  to  the  place  in  the  heavens  where  it  would  be  in  an  hour,  and 
said  she  must  then  be  in  her  lodge,  and  plunging  into  the  river  swam 
rapidly  to  the  opposite  shore.  The  next  day  was  the  one  appointed 
for  the  departure  of  La  Salle  and  party.  True  to  her  promise  — 
the  Natchez  girl  had  found  a  maiden  for  each  of  the  party,  who  was 
willing  to  abandon  her  people  and  go  with  the  strangers  on  their 
perilous  and  unknown  journey,  and  to  be  the  wives  of  the  pale-faces. 

The  French,  with  much  ceremony,  were  dismissed  by  the  Great 
Sun,  and  a  strong  escort  of  both  sexes  followed  them  to  their  boats. 
The  ceremony  of  shaking  hands  was  gone  through  with ;  all  the 
men  first,  and  then  the  women ;  the  last,  as  previously  arranged,  were 
the  girls  who  were  to  follow  their  sweethearts.  At  a  signal  each  was 
grasped  and  hurried  forward  toward  the  boats.  The  alarm  was 
given,  and  in  a  moment  the  bows  of  the  warriors  were  strung,  and 
they  rushed  yelling  to  the  rescue ;  overpowered,  the  French  released 
the  women  and  springing  into  their  boats  were  soon  out  of  danger  of 
the  arrows  which  were  sent  in  showers  after  them  —  nor  did  they 
escape  unscathed.  Several  of  the  men  were  wounded,  and  some  of 
them  severely.  When  once  away  from  the  shore,  the  French  seized 
their  guns  and  fired  a  volley,  but  were  prevented  from  further  dem- 
onstrations by  La  Salle ;  not  wishing  to  leave  behind  him  an  enemy, 
who  might  be  troublesome  to  him  on  his  return  up  the  river. 

This  adventure  was  the  only  hostile  one  of  the  entire  trip.  This 
S 


274  THE    MEMORIES     OF 

was  provoked  by  the  folly  and  crime  of  his  men  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  La  Salle.  How  true  it  is  that  man  in  every  condition  and 
of  every  race  will  fight  for  his  woman  as  surely  as  the  game  cock 
for  his  hen !  Long  years  after,  and  when  the  last  Natchez  had  been 
gone  from  the  land  of  his  love  many  years,  and  when  threatening 
war  was  disturbing  the  people  of  the  colonies,  there  came  here  a 
band  of  men,  as  had  come  to  thi*  land  of  beauty  and  plenty,  the 
oppressors  of  the  Natchez,  seeking  to  make  a  peaceful  home  upon 
these  hills,  where  grew  in  luxuriant  profusion  the  magnolia  and  great 
tulip-trees,  and  where  the  atmosphere  was  redolent  with  the  perfume 
of  the  wild  flowers  which  clothed  and  ornamented  the  trees  and 
grounds  so  fruitful  and  rich  with  nature's  gifts. 

The  country  was  claimed  as  part  of  West  Florida  and  dominated 
by  the  Spanish  Government.  They  were  anxious  to  have  the  country 
populated,  and  donated  certain  quantities  or  tracts  of  land  to  any 
one  who  came  to  settle  and  remain  in  the  country.  These  settle- 
ments at  first  were  made  on  the  bluffs  projecting  through  the  alluvial 
swamp  to  the  river's  brink,  and  at  or  near  the  mouths  of  the  small 
streams  debouching  into  the  river  from  the  eastern  shore.  The  west 
bank  was  deemed  uninhabitable  in  consequence  of  the  spring-floods 
sweeping  over  the  alluvial  formation,  extending  from  forty  to  seventy 
miles  west  of  the  river;  and  there  being  no  highlands  or  bluffs 
approaching  the  river  from  the  west,  below  what  is  now  known  as 
Helena,  in  Arkansas,  this  vast  territory  was  one  interminable  swamp, 
clothed  with  immense  forest-trees,  gigantic  vines,  and  jungle-bushes. 
It  was  interspersed  with  lakes,  and  bayous  as  reservoirs  and  drains 
for  the  wonderful  floods  which  annually  visit  this  country.  Around 
these  were  lands  remarkable  for  their  fertility  —  indeed,  unsurpassed 
by  any  on  the  face  of  the  earth ;  but  worthless,  however,  for  cultiva- 
tion, as  long  as  unprotected  against  these  annual  floods.  The  system 
of  leveeing  was  too  onerous  and  expensive  to  be  undertaken  by  the 
people  sparsedly  populating  the  eastern  bank  throughout  the  hill- 
country.  The  levee  system  which  had  reclaimed  so  much  of  the  low 
country  in  Louisiana,  had  not  extended  above  Pointe  Coupe'e,  in  1826. 
Yet  there  were  some  settlements  on  several  of  the  lakes  above,  espe- 
cially on  Lakes  Concordia  and  St.  Joseph. 

The  immense  country  in  Georgia,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  Mis- 
sissippi in  possession  of  the  Indians,  interposed  a  barrier  to  emigra- 
tion. To  think  of  leaving  home  and  friends  to  go  away  beyond 


FIFTY    YEARS. 


275 


these  savages,  seemed  an  undertaking  too  gigantic  for  any  but  men 
of  desperate  fortunes,  or  of  the  most  indomitable  energy. 

Adventurers  had  wandered  into  the  country  and  returned  with  ter- 
rible stories  of  the  unhealthiness  of  the  climate  as  well  as  the  diffi- 
culties to  be  overcome  in  reaching  it ;  thus  deterring  the  emigrant 
who  desired  a  new  home.  When  General  Jackson  was  elected  to  the 
Presidency  a  new  policy  was  inaugurated.  The  Indians  were  removed 
beyond  the  Mississippi ;  the  lands  they  had  occupied  were  brought 
into  market,  and  a  flood  of  emigration  poured  into  these  new  acquisi- 
tions. Cotton  had  suddenly  grown  into  great  demand.  The  increase 
of  population,  and  the  great  cheapness  of  the  fabrics  from  cotton, 
had  increased  the  demand.  In  Europe  it  had  rapidly  increased,  and 
in  truth  all  over  the  world.  Emigration  from  Europe  had  set  in  to 
a  heavy  extent  upon  the  United  States,  and  the  West  was  growing  in 
population  so  rapidly  as  to  create  there  a  heavy  demand  for  these 
fabrics.  The  world  was  at  peace ;  commerce  was  unrestricted,  and 
prosperity  was  everywhere.  Europe  had  recovered  from  her  long 
war,  and  the  arts  of  peace  had  taken  hold  of  every  people,  and  were 
bearing  their  fruit.  All  the  lands  intermediate  between  the  frontiers 
west  of  Georgia  and  Tennessee  and  those  of  the  east  of  Mississippi 
and  Louisiana  were  soon  appropriated  ;  and  the  more  fertile  lands  of 
the  two  latter  States  were  coming  rapidly  into  request  for  the  purpose 
of  cotton  cultivation. 

The  great  flood  of  1828  had  swept  over  every  cultivated  field  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  seemed  to  demonstrate  the  folly  of  ever 
attempting  to  reduce  these  lands  to  profitable  cultivation.  But  with 
the  increase  of  population  came  wealth  and  enterprise.  The  levees 
were  continued  up  the  river.  A  long  period  of  comparatively  low 
water  encouraged  settlements  upon  the  alluvial  bottoms.  The  levees 
were  continued  up  the  west  bank,  and  in  a  few  years  the  forests  had 
melted  away  from  the  margin  of  the  river.  Large  fields  were  in  their 
stead,  and  were  continually  increasing  in  extent.  Improvements  of 
a  superior  character  were  commencing,  and  an  occasional  break  in 
the  levee,  and  partial  inundation,  did  not  deter,  but  rather  stimulated 
the  planters  to  increased  exertion,  to  discipline  and  control  the  great 
floods  poured  down  from  the  rain-sheds  extending  from  the  head- 
waters of  the  Ohio  to  those  of  the  Mississippi,  Missouri,  Arkansas, 
and  Red  Rivers,  embracing  in  extent  an  area  greater  than  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe.  It  really  seemed  an  attempt  to  defy  the  decrees  of 


276  THE     MEM  OKIES     OF 

fate.  In  1828,  the  waters  from  Cairo  to  Baton  Rouge,  a  distance  of 
nine  hundred  miles,  averaged  fifty  miles  in  width.  For  months  the 
great  river  was  covered  with  forests  of  timber,  torn  up  with  the  roots 
by  the  flood,  floating  and  tumbling  wildly  along  the  terrible  torrent, 
making  the  navigation  extremely  dangerous  for  the  few  steamers 
then  upon  the  river.  How  often  have  I  heard  old  men,  who  were 
long  resident  in  the  country,  when  standing  on  the  bluff  at  Natchez, 
viewing  the  extent  of  that  memorable  flood,  say  :  "Every  man  who 
attempts  to  cultivate  these  bottom  lands  will  be  ruined.  The  river 
demands  them  as  a  reservoir  for  her  surplus  waters  when  in  flood." 
But  enterprise  was  undeterred  ;  the  levees  went  up  and  the  settlements 
went  on  to  increase ;  and  when  the  spoiler  came  all  the  valley  was 
dotted  over  with  pretty  villages  and  magnificent  cotton  plantations, 
containing  and  sustaining  a  prosperous,  rich,  intelligent,  and  happy 
population.  They  are  swept  away,  and  ruin  reigns  over  this  deso- 
lated land. 

This  was  but  the  beginning  of  the  subduing  to  man's  will  and  cul- 
tivation this  entire  and  unparalleled  valley.  What  had  been  done 
demonstrated  the  possibility  of  redeeming  every  inch  of  the  alluvial 
land  along  the  entire  valley  to  the  production  of  the  richest  staples, 
with.all  the  necessaries  to  man's  support,  comfort,  and  wealth.  It  is 
pleasing  to  contemplate  this  immense  plain  as  one  extended  scene  of 
cultivation  —  the  beautiful  lakes  of  every  form,  surrounded  with  pala- 
tial homes  and  fertile  fields;  lovely  towns  upon  their  borders,  with  the 
church-spires  pointing  to  heaven,  surrounded  with  shrubs  and  flowers 
of  every  variety  and  hue ;  streams  meandering  among  the  extended 
plantations ;  railroads  intersecting  it  in  every  direction ;  and  all  this 
mighty  field,  a  thousand  miles  long  by  fifty  broad,  teeming  with  pro- 
duction, and  pouring  into  the  lap  of  commerce  a  wealth  absolutely 
incalculable.  The  work  was  begun  and  was  rapidly  progressing; 
but  now,  when  and  by  whom  will  this  great,  glorious  garden  be 
made? 

To  do  this  was  the  black  man's  mission ;  but  ere  his  work  was 
done  he  was  converted  into  a  machine  to  undo  all  his  work.  Incon- 
ceivable calamity  has  followed,  and  to  him  is  fixed  a  decade  which 
will  soon  run  to  extinction. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  277 

CHAPTER   XXI. 

TWO    STRANGE    BEINGS. 

ROMANCE  OP  WESTERN  LIFE— MET  BY  CHANCE— PARTING  ON  THE  LEVEE- 
MEETING  AT  THE  SICK-BED  —  CONVALESCENT  —  LOVE-MAKING  —  «  HOME, 
SWEET  HOME"  —  THEOLOGICAL  DISCUSSIONS  —  UNCLE  TONY  — WILD,  YET 
GENTLE — AN  ODD  FAMILY — THE  ADVENTURER  SPECULATES. 

IT  was  in  the  spring  of  the  year  away  back  in  time  when  there 
landed  at  the  town  of  St.  Francisville,  or  Bayou  Sara,  a  small 
periagua,  or  canoe,  containing  two  young  men  clad  in  skins,  with  a 
camp-kettle,  guns,  some  curiously  painted  skins,  Indian  bows,  quivers, 
and  Indian  curiosities.  Their  hair  was  long,  their  unshaven  beards 
were  full  and  flowing,  and  in  all  their  appearance  they  were  wild  and 
savage.  There  were  but  few  houses  in  the  hamlet  below  the  hill. 
Among  these  was  one  of  more  pretensions  than  the  rest.  It  was  a 
store,  and  the  merchant  was  an  Irishman.  There  was  near  it  a  neat 
family  carriage.  One  of  the  ^oung  savages  went  into  this  store  to 
find  materials  for  writing  to  his  home-friends,  from  whom  he  had 
been  separated  for  many  long  months.  He  found  in  the  store  three 
ladies.  Two  were  young,  the  other  was  an  aged  matron.  They 
seemed  not  only  surprised  at  the  novel  apparition  before  them,  but 
alarmed.  This  surprise  seemed  to  increase  when  they  saw  the  young 
savage  rapidly  filling,  upon  the  counter,  a  sheet  of  paper.  They 
desisted  from  their  shopping,  and  watched  intently  the  wild  savage. 
When  his  letter  was  completed,  he  politely  desired  the  accommo- 
dating merchant  to  send  it  for  him  to  the  post-office.  Then  lifting 
his  gray  wolf-skin  cap  from  his  head,  he  bowed  politely  to  the  ladies 
and  turned  to  leave  the  store  and  their  presence.  The  salutation  was 
gracefully  acknowledged,  and  especially  by  the  matron.  Very  soon 
they  joined  the  curious  crowd  who  were  examining  the  contents  of 
the  canoe,  now  placed  on  the  land  to  await  the  coming  of  a  steamer 
that  was  freighting  with  cotton  above.  One  of  the  young  ladies 
seemed  much  interested  and  made  many  inquiries.  A  bow  and 
quiver  was  given  into  her  hand.  The  latter  was  fashioned  from  the 
skin  of  a  Mexican  tiger,  and  was  filled  with  arrows.  One  of  these 
was  bloody,  and  its  history  was  asked  of  the  youth  she  had  met  in  the 
24 


278  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

store.  It  was  the  blood  of  a  Pawnee  chief  who,  by  this  arrow,  had 
been  slain  in  battle,  and  was  the  gift  to  the  youth  from  the  daughter 
of  the  fallen  chief,  together  with  the  bow  and  quiver  of  the  Indian 
who  had  slain  her  father,  and  who  was  in  turn  killed  by  a  chief  of 
her  tribe. 

How  beautiful  she  was  to  this  wanderer  of  the  wilderness  !  Months 
upon  months  had  passed  away,  and  he  had  only  looked  upon  the 
blank  and  unmeaning  features  of  the  desert  savage  woman.  With 
these  his  heart  had  no  sympathy.  Like  the  panther  of  their  plains 
they  were  swift  of  foot,  symmetrical  in  form,  wild,  untamed  and 
untamable,  fierce  and  unfeeling ;  and  were  not  formed  by  nature  for 
sympathy  or  social  union  with  the  higher  organizations  of  civilized 
man.  His  dream  of  romance  was  being  realized.  The  vacuum  in 
his  heart  was  filling.  How  in  contrast  were  his  feelings  and  appear- 
ance !  Clad  as  a  savage,  his  skin  was  covered  with  the  fabric  of  an 
Indian  woman,  closely  fitting,  with  moccasins  on  his  feet,  and  a  gray 
wolf-skin  cap  upon  his  head  —  his  long,  black  hair  with  the  luxuriant 
growth  of  two  years  curling  over  his  shoulders,  and  his  beard,  like 
the  wing  of  night  fluttering  in  the  breeze,  waving  down  from  his  chin 
to  his  breast  in  ringlets,  glossy  and  beautiful.  He  was  lithe  as  a  sav- 
age, and  seemed  to  be  one.  In  his  heart  were  kindling  soft  emo- 
tions, and  memories  of  maidens  he  had  known  —  now  far,  far  away — 
came  crowding  upon  that  heart.  Before  him  stood  the  embodiment 
of  beauty  and  grace,  attired  with  costly  and  beautiful  fabrics  which 
flowed  about  her  person  like  the  white  vapor  upon  the  breezes  of 
spring.  Elegance  was  in  her  every  attitude,  and  grace  in  every 
movement.  Her  features  and  her  eyes  beamed  with  a  curious  wish 
to  learn  the  story  of  the  strange  wild  being  before  her.  Their  two 
hearts  were  in  sympathy ;  but  to  each  other  it  was  a  secret.  How 
strangely  they  had  met !  How  strangely  they  were  feeling !  How 
soon  they  were  to  part !  "  Where  is  he  from?  Where  is  he  going?  " 
asked  her  eyes ;  and  he  looked  :  "  Who  are  you ;  and  where  is  your 
home,  beautiful  being,  so  strangely  and  so  unexpectedly  met?  " 

An  arrow  was  shot  from  the  bow  to  gratify  a  request.  She  fol- 
lowed the  quivering  thing  with  her  eye,  as  it  sped  like  a  shaft  of 
light  to  its  destined  mark.  To  retrieve  it  she  walked  with  the  youth 
to  where,  fixed  in  a  bale  of  cotton,  it  trembled,  some  hundred  yards 
away.  Slowly  she  returned  by  the  youth's  side,  and  drooped  her 
head,  listening  to  the  wild  mountain  adventures  he  was  telling  —  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  279 

chase  of  the  elk,  the  antelope,  and  the  wild  buffalo ;  the  hazardous 
ride  through  the  wild  prairies,  expanding  away  in  the  distance  to 
kiss  the  horizon;  the  stealthy  wiles  of  the  revengeful  savage;  the 
fierce  fight  of  savage  men ;  the  race  for  very  life,  when  the  foe  fol- 
lowed;  and  the, bivouac  upon  the  prairie's  breast,  with  the  weary 
horse  sleeping  and  resting  by  his  side.  Will  he  ever  forget  the 
speaking  of  the  beaming  features  of  that  beautiful  creature,  when  she 
lifted  her  head  and  looked  into  his  face  ?  A  frown  darkened  the 
matron's  features  as  her  Steve  returned  to  the  curious  group  which 
was  listening  to  the  narrative  of  the  older  of  the  two  strangers.  It 
said :  "  What  did  you  leave  me  for  ?  Why  this  indiscretion  ?  "  Ah  ! 
how  often  old  women  forget  they  were  once  young ! 

The  steamer  is  coming.  She  is  here ;  and  the  trappings  of  the  wan- 
derers are  on  board.  The  young  wild  man  stands  alone  upon  the 
upper  deck.  His  eyes  pierce  to  where  stands  the  sylph  he  leaves 
with  reluctance.  She  is  looking  at  him.  He  lifts  his  cap  and 
bows  farewell.  She  waves  her  kerchief  in  return.  The  steamer 
speeds  away.  They  are  parted.  Has  that  brief  interview  left  an 
impression  upon  those  two  young  hearts  to  endure  beyond  a  day  ? 
Will  she  dream  of  the  dark  beard,  curled  and  flowing — of  the  darker 
eye  which  looked  and  spoke?  and  will  the  wild  story  of  the  western 
wilderness  come  in  the  silent  darkness  of  her  chamber,  and  make 
her  nestle  closer  to  her  pillow?  Will  her  heart  ask  :  "  Shall  I  ever 
meet  him  again?  " 

He  has  gone  away ;  a  waif  about  the  land  —  a  feather  on  the 
world,  driven  about,  as  destiny  impels,  without  fixed  intentions ;  yet 
buoyant  with  the  ardor  of  youth,  and  happy  in  the  excess  of% 
youthful  hopes,  dreamy  and  wild  adventures.  He  has  tasted  the 
savage  love  of  woods  and  wilds,  and  the  nature — which  was  born 
thousands  of  years  ere  the  teachings  of  civilization  had  tamed  the 
wild  man  into  an  educated,  home-loving  being  —  revives,  and  the 
two  struggle  for  mastery  in  his  heart.  The  bleak  mountain-peaks, 
the  wide-extended  plain  and  its  wild  denizens,  and  the  excitement 
these  give,  stirs  his  bosom,  and  the  wish  struggles  up  to  return  to 
them.  But  the  gentler  chords  of  his  heart  are  in  tune.  The  once- 
loved  home,  and  she,  the  once-loved  and  yet-remembered  maiden, 
is  there,  and  it  may  be  she  pines  for  his  return.  He  gazed  on  the 
beautiful  apparition  but  a  moment  gone,  and  thought  of  another ; 
and  thought  begat  thought  until  the  loved  one  he  had  left  rose  up  to 


280  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

memory's  call.  He  was  alone,  looking  upon  the  great  river  through 
whose  turbid  waters  he  was  borne  away,  and  he  felt  he  was  lengthen- 
ing a  chain  linked  to  his  heart  which  pulled  him  back  —  to  what, 
and  to  whom  ?  It  was  a  vision — a  dream  with  his  eyes  open  :  indis- 
tinct, unembodied,  a  very  shadow ;  still  it  floated  about  in  his 
imagination,  and  he  was  sad.  He  was  in  the  city  —  the  great  Sodom 
of  the  West.  He  was  an  object  of  wonder  to  every  curious  eye. 
His  wild  appearance  and  gentle  manner  comported  illy,  and  the 
thoughtless  crowd  followed  him.  Attired  now  as  a  civilized  being, 
and  feeling  that  the  vagrant  life  of  a  savage  must  lead  to  grief,  he 
called  to  mind  the  tear  which  stole  from  the  rheumy  eyes  of  the  old 
trapper  as  he  narrated  his  adventures  in  the  wilderness,  and  cursed 
the  hour  he  ever  wandered  from  his  home.  His  life  had  been  a 
continual  danger,  his  hope  had  been  always  to  return  to  his  early 
attachments ;  but  the  chain  of  habit  fettered  him,  and  he  had  learned 
to  love  the  wild,  solitary  life,  because  of  its  excitements  and  its  dan- 
gers. Should  he,  like  this  man,  come  to  love  the  solitude  and  silence 
of  the  wilderness,  and  find  companionship  only  with  his  traps  and 
guns? 

His  resolution  was  taken,  he  would  renew  the  strife  with  the  world 
and  go  back  to  busy  life.  His  companion  of  many  dangers  and  long 
marches  was  going  to  Mexico  in  search  of  new  adventures.  They 
are  alone  upon  the  broad  levee  —  busy  men  are  hurrying  to  and  fro, 
little  heeding  the  two  —  a  small  schooner  is  dropping  and  sheeting 
home  her  sails ;  she  is  up  for  Tampico,  and  Gilmanot  goes  in  her ; 
she  is  throwing  off  her  fastenings.  "  All  aboard,"  cries  the  swarthy, 
,  whiskered  captain  —  a  grasp  of  the  hand  —  no  word  was  spoken  — 
it  was  warm  and  sincere,  there  was  no  need  of  words — each  under- 
stood that  last  warm  farewell  pressure.  She  is  sweeping  around 
Slaughter-house  Point  —  only  the  topmasts  are  visible  now — and  now 
she  is  gone.  The  young  adventurer  stands  alone  and  the  crowd  goes 
hurrying  on.  How  many  in  desolation  of  heart  have  stood  alone 
and  unheeded  by  the  busy,  passing  multitude  upon  that  broad  levee ! 
How  many  tears  of  misery  have  moistened  its  shell-covered  summit, 
when  thinking  of  friends  far,  far  away  they  should  never  see  again, 
and  when  hope  had  been  rooted  from  the  heart ! 

He  wandered  to  the  great  square,  now  so  beautifully  ornamented 
with  shrubs  and  flowers  which  love  the  sun  and  the  South's  fat  soil, 
growing  and  blooming  about  the  bronze  representation  of  the  loved 


FIFTY     YEARS.  28l 

hero  who  had  been  her  shield  and  savior  in  the  hour  of  her  peril, 
Andrew  Jackson.  Then  there  were  a  few  trees  only,  and  beneath 
these,  here  and  there,  a  rude  rural  seat  or  bench.  The  old,  gray 
cathedral  was  frowning  on  the  woild's  sins,  so  rife  around  her;  and 
the  great,  naked  square  and  the  mighty  muddy  river  which  was  hur- 
rying away  to  the  sea.  To  the  most  thoughtless  will  come  reflection, 
and  the  sweetest  face  is  mellowed  by  sorrow.  Here  under  these 
trees,  in  the  midst  of  a  great  city,  came  to  the  young  adventurer 
reflection  and  sighing  sorrow.  His  mother  and  father  came  up  in 
memory ;  the  home  of  childhood,  his  brother,  his  sister,  his  friends, 
all  were  remembered;  his  heart  flooded  over  and  he  wept  like  a  little 
child.  Blessed  are  they  who  can  cry.  It  is  nature's  outlet  for  grief, 
and  the  heart  would  break  if  we  could  not  cry.  The  heart  is  not 
desolate  when  alone  in  the  forest  or  the  bound  less  grass-clothed  plains 
of  the  West.  Nature  is  all  around  you,  and  her  smile  is  benificent. 
There  is  companionship  in  the  breeze,  in  the  waving  grass,  the  rust- 
ling leaves,  and  the  meanings  of  the  wind-swayed  limbs  of  the  yield- 
ing forest.  In  the  city's  multitude  to  move,  and  be  unknown  of  all ; 
to  hear  no  recognized  voice;  to  meet  no  sympathizing  smile  or  eye; 
to  be  silent  when  all  are  speaking,  and  to  know  that  not  one  of  all 
these  multitudes  share  a  thought  or  wish  with  you  —  this  is  desolation, 
the  bitterness  of  solitude. 

A  year  has  gone  by,  and  the  youth  has  found  a  new  home  and  has 
made  new  friends.  He  is  one  of  the  busy  world  and  struggling  with  it. 
He  is  in  commerce's  mart  and  is  one  of  the  multitude  who  come  and 
congregate  there  for  gain ;  in  the  hall  of  Justice,  where  litigants 
court  the  smiles  and  favors  of  the  blind  goddess,  where  right  con- 
tends against  wrong,  and  is  as  often  trampled  as  triumphant;  and 
where  wisdom  lends  herself  for  hire,  and  bad  men  rarely  meet  their 
dues. 

Pestilence  had  come,  and  the  frightened  multitude  were  fleeing 
from  the  scourge.  There  was  one  who  came  and  proffered  the  hos- 
pitality of  his  home  —  where  Hygeia  smiled  and  fever  never  came. 
Thither  he  went,  but  the  poison  was  in  his  blood,  and  as  he  slept  it 
seized  upon  his  vitals.  His  suffering  was  terrible,  and  for  days  life's 
uncertain  tenure  seemed  ready  to  release  her  hold  on  time.  In  his 
fever-dream  there  was  flitting  about  him  a  fairy  form;  it  would  come 
and  go,  as  the  moonlight  on  the  restless  wave — a  moment  seen  and  in 
a  moment  gone.  He  saw  and  knew  nothing  for  many  days  distinctly; 
24* 


282  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

he  would  call  for  his  mother  and  weep,  when  only  winds  would 
answer.  Delirium  was  in  his  brain,  and  wild  fancies  chased  each 
other  ;  he  heard  the  crowing  of  cocks  and  saw  his  sister  ;  his  father 
would  come  to  him,  and  he  would  stretch  out  his  hand  and  grasp  the 
shadowy  nothing.  There  was  a  halo  of  beauty  all  about  him  ;  pris- 
matic hues  trembled  in  the  light,  and  the  tones  of  sweet  music  floated 
upon  the  breeze.  He  saw  angels  swimming  in  the  golden  light ;  the 
blue  ether  opened,  and  they  came  through  to  greet  him  and  to  wel- 
come him  to  heaven.  Then  all  was  darkness,  the  crisis  had  come. 
He  slept  in  oblivious  ease  —  it  was  long;  and  awaking,  the  fever  was 
gope.  There  was  a  gentle,  sweet,  sorrowful  face  before  him  —  their 
eyes  met;  for  a  moment  only  he  looked  —  it  was  she  whom  he  had 
met  and  parted  from  without  a  hope  of  ever  meeting  again  when 
robed  as  the  Indian  he  stood  upon  the  steamer's  deck  and  waved 
farewell  forever.  He  reached  forth  his  hand.  She  took  it  and 
approached,  saying,  "  You  are  better,  and  will  soon  be  well."  He 
could  only  press  her  hand  as  the  tears  flooded  over  his  eyes.  With 
a  kerchief  white  as  innocence  it  was  wiped  away  and  the  hand  that 
held  it  laid  gently  on  his  brow  —  that  touch  thrilled  his  every  nerve. 

Days  went  by,  and  the  convalescent  was  amid  the  shrubs  and 
flowers  of  the  beautifully  ornamented  grounds.  When  he  came  to  the 
maiden  reading  in  the  shade  of  a  great  pecan-tree,  she  bid  him  to  a 
seat. 

"  Do  you  remember  our  first  meeting?  "  he  asked. 

"  Here,  on  your  sick-bed,  yes ;  you  were,  oh !  so  sick,  and  I  little 
thought  you  would  ever  leave  it  alive.  You  called  in  your  delirium 
your  mother  and  your  father,  and  in  the  frenzy  of  your  mind  you 
saw  them  by  you ;  how  my  heart  was  pained,  and  how  I  prayed  for 
you,  in  my  chamber,  here,  and  everywhere — and  now  you  are  well, 
only  weak." 

"It  was  not  when  sick  I  met  you  first,"  he  replied;  "as  a  wild 
man  you  saw  me  first,  clothed  in  the  skins  of  the  wild  beasts  of  the 
forest." 

She  gazed  intently ;  could  it  be  ?  and  clasping  her  hands  she 
bowed  her  head  and  was  silent. 

"We  have  met  again,"  he  continued;  "I  had  not  forgotten  you, 
but  I  dared  not  hope  we  should  ever  meet  any  more.  It  was  a  pain- 
ful thought ;  but  I  must  not  tell  that  —  "  and  there  was  silence. 

Days  went  by,  and  the  invalid  was  growing  in  strength  and  health. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  283 

They  only  met  at  the  table  at  the  family  meals,  but  they  were  near 
each  other.  It  was  at  dinner  when  a  ride  on  horseback  was  pro- 
posed for  the  evening's  recreation.  They  rode  in  company,  and 
through  the  forest  where  the  winding  road  circled  the  hills,  and  the 
great  magnolias  threw  their  dark  shade  and  deliciously  cooled  the 
vesper  breeze. 

"  Is  it  romance,  or  are  you  the  young  gentleman  with  flowing  hair 
and  black,  curling  beard  I  met,  and  who  shot  the  arrow  into  the 
cotton  bale  for  my  amusement  ?  O  !  how  often  have  I  seen  you  in 
my  dreams;  but  I  shall  never  see  you  as  I  saw  you  then.  What  a 
study  you  were  to  me !  How  could  your  words  be  so  soft  and  gentle 
in  the  wild  costume  of  the  murderous  savage  ?  Had  you  uttered  the 
war-whoop  and  strode  away  with  the  stride  and  pride  of  the  savage 
warrior,  there  would  have  been  euphony  in  it,  and  I  should  have  felt 
and  known  you  were  a  savage — and  you  would  have  passed  from  my 
mind.  But,  ah  !  look  how  beautifully  bounds  away  the  startled  doe 
we  have  aroused  from  her  lair  in  the  cave  here." 

"She  seems  scarcely  more  startled  than  did  you  when  I  came  so 
unexpectedly  upon  you  in  the  store  at  Bayou  Sara.  Were  you  not 
surprised  to  see  that  I  could  write  ?  " 

"You  must  not  question  me  now.  Why  have  you  cut  your  hair 
and  beard?  why  doffed  the  prairie  chieftain's  robes  of  state  and  come 
forth  a  plain  man  ?  You  have  dispelled  my  romance.  I  have  tried 
to  paint  you  as  I  saw  and  remembered  you,  and  made  charcoal 
sketches  for  the  gratification  of  friends  to  whom  I  would  describe 
you.  I  would  so  like  to  see  you  as  you  were  !  O  !  you  were  a  won- 
der to  me,  a  very  Orson  —  now,  you  are  simply  a  —  " 

"  Miserable  creature  in  plain  clothes,  and  by  no  means  a  lady's 
fancy.  Why  did  you  not  let  me  die,  since  all  that  was  to  be  fancied 
about  me  —  my  hair,  my  beard,  and  my  buckskin  coat,  pants,  and 
moccasins  are  gone  and  destroyed  ?  " 

The  maiden  laughed  wildly ;  it  was  not  the  laugh  of  mirth  or 
mischief,  there  was  a  madness  in  it  that  thrilled  and  awed. 

"  Do  you  know  you  are  on  the  graves  of  a  great  nation?"  she 
asked.  "This  mound  and  yonder  three,  were  the  burial-places  of 
the  Natchez  Indians.  The  Suns  and  Sachems  sleep  here,  and  he, 
the  Great  Sun,  who  came  from  the  orbit's  self,  and  was  their  law- 
giver, and  in  whom  and  whose  divinity  they  believed  as  the  Jews  in 
that  of  Moses,  or  the  Christians  in  the  Redeemer.  Is  it  not  all  a 


484  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

mystery — strange,  strange,  incomprehensible,  and  unnatural?   What 
is  your  faith?" 

"To  worship  where  I  love;  the  divinity  of  my  soul's  worship  is 
the  devotion  of  my  wild  heart. ' 

"Why,  you  are  mysterious!  Have  you,  as  had  the  Natchez,  a 
holy  fire  which  is  never  extinguished  in  your  heart  ?  Is  the  flame 
first  kindled  burning  still?  Did  your  sun  come  to  you  with  fire  in" 
her  hand  and  kindle  it  in  your  heart  ?  Your  words  mean  so  much. 
Was  she,  or  is  she  a  red  maiden  of  the  wild  prairies ;  or  dwells  she 
in  a  mansion  surrounded  with  the  appliances  of  wealth,  reclining  on 
cushions  of  velvet  and  sleeping  on  a  bed  of  down,  canopied  with  a 
pavilion  of  damask  satin  fretted  with  stars  of  silver;  with  handmaids 
to  subserve  and  minister  to  every  want?"  And  again  the  wild  laugh 
rang  to  the  echo  among  the  hills  and  dense  forests  all  around.  "O  ! 
I  see  I  have  tuned  the  wrong  chord  and  have  made  discord,  not 
music  in  your  mind.  Shall  we  return  ?  You  are  not  yet  strong,  and 
your  weakness  I  have  made  weaker,  because  I  have  disturbed  the 
fountain  of  your  heart  and  brought  up  painful  memories?" 

"You  are  strange,"  said  her  companion,  "and  guess  wide  of  the 
mark.  The  untutored  savage  is  only  a  romance  at  a  distance  —  the 
reality  of  their  presence  a  disgusting  fact.  They  are  wild,  untama- 
ble, and  wicked,  without  sentiment  or  sympathy,  cruel  and  murder- 
ous; disgusting  in  their  habits  and  brutal  in  their  passions." 

"And  yet,  sir,  the  stories  which  come  down  to  us  of  these  so 
quietly  sleeping  here  are  full  of  romance  and  poetry.  Their  inter- 
course with  the  French  impressed  that  mercurial  people  with  exalted 
notions  of  their  humanity,  chivalry,  and  nobleness  of  nature.  Can 
it  be  that  these  historians  only  wrote  romances  ?  You  must  not 
disturb  this  romance.  If  it  is  an  illusion  let  me  enjoy  it ;  do  not  strip 
from  it  the  beard,  the  hair,  the  hunting-shirt,  the  bow  and  quiver  — 
reality  or  fiction,  it  is  sweet  to  the  memory.  How  often  have  I 
wandered  from  our  home  and  stood  here  alone  and  conjured  from 
the  spirit-land  the  ghosts  of  the  Great  Suns,  the  Stung  Serpent,  and 
the  chief  of  the  Beard,  and  hers  who  warned  the  French  of  the 
conspiracy  for  their  destruction.  In  my  day-dreaming  I  have  talked 
with  these,  and  learned  with  delight  of  their  bliss  in  their  eternal 
hunting-grounds.  And  as  I  have  knelt  here,  they  in  hosts  have  come 
to  me  with  all  their  legends  and  long  accounts  against  the  white  man, 
and  I  have  wept  above  these  dry  bones,  and  felt  too  it  was  the  fate  of 


FIFTY     YEARS.  285 

the  white  man,  when  his  mission  shall  have  been  completed  on  earth, 
and  his  nation's  age  bear  him  into  the  ground,  and  only  his  legends 
shall  live  a  tradition,  like  that  of  the  Natchez. 

"  The  hieroglyphics  of  Thotmes,  of  Rameses,  of  Menephthah,  and 
of  the  host  of  kings  gone  before  these  in  Egypt's  old  life,  cannot  be 
read ;  their  language,  letters,  and  traditions,  too,  sleep  beyond  the 
revelations  of  time,  and  yet  their  tombs,  like  these,  give  up  their 
bones  to  the  curious,  who  group  through  the  catacombs,  or  dig  at  the 
base  of  their  monumental  pyramids.  All  besides  has  passed  away 
and  is  lost.  Not  even  the  color  of  the  great  people  who  filled  these 
monuments,  and  carved  from  the  solid  stone  these  miles  of  galleries, 
now  filled  to  repletion  with  their  mummied  dead,  and  whose  capacity 
is  sufficient  to  entomb  the  dead  of  a  nation  for  thousands  of  years,  is 
known  now  to  those  who  people  the  fields  reclaimed  from  the  forest 
beyond  the  memory  of  time. 

"Nations  are  born,  have  their  periods  of  youthful  vigor,  their 
manhood  of  sturdy  strength,  the  tottering  of  decrepit  age,  the  imbe- 
cility of  superstitious  dotage — and  their  death  is  final  extinction. 
Such  is  man,  and  such  is  the  world.  What  we  are,  we  know;  what 
we  shall  be,  we  know  not,  save  that  we  only  leave  a  pile  of  bones. 
Come,  we  are  approaching  home,  and  the  moon  dares  to  shine,  ere 
yet  the  sun  has  gone.  Yonder  is  brother,  and  I  expect  a  scolding ; 
but  let  him  fret — it  is  not  often  I  have  a  toy.  Fate  threw  you  in  my 
way  and  you  must  not  complain  if  I  use  you." 

"  I  shall  not  complain,"  replied  the  astonished  young  man ;  "  but 
will  you  ride  again  to-morrow?" 

She  checked  up  her  steed  (a  noble  one  he  was)  and  seemed  to  take 
in  his  entire  man,  as  slowly  her  eye  went  up  from  his  stirrup  to  his 
face,  when  she  said :  "To-morrow,  ah,  to-morrow !  Who  can  tell  what 
to-morrow  may  bring  forth  ?  To  you  and  to  me,  there  may  come 
no  to-morrow.  We  may  in  a  twinkling  be  hurled  from  our  sphere 
into  oblivion.  The  earth  may  open  to-night,  or  even  now,  and  we 
may  drop  into  her  bosom  of  liquid  fire,  and  be  only  ashes  to-morrow. 

"  'Take  no  heed  for  to-morrow,"  is  the  admonition  of  wisdom. 
Look,  yonder  I  was  born.  Here  sleep  the  Natchez.  See  yonder  tall 
mound,  shaded  from  base  to  summit  with  the  great  forest  trees  pecu- 
liar to  our  land.  On  the  top  of  that  mound  stood  the  temple  dedi- 
cated to  the  worship  of  the  sun.  He  smiles  on  it  as  the  earth  rolls 
up  to  hide  his  light  away,  as  he  did  when  the  holy  fire  was  watched 


286  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

by  the  priests  in  that  temple.  But  the  Indian  worshipper  is  gone  ; 
to  him  there  comes  no  morrow.  There,  on  that  mound,  sleep  the 
parents  of  my  mother ;  to  them  comes  no  morrow.  Allans  !  We 
shall  be  late  for  tea.  Brother  has  gone  to  sister's,  and  we  shall  be 
alone."  In  a  few  minutes  they  were  galloping  down  the  avenue 
to  the  old  Spanish-looking  mansion,  hid  away  almost  from  view  in 
the  forest  and  floral  surroundings,  which  made  it  so  lovely  to  view. 

There  had  come  in  their  absence  another ;  it  was  she  who  was  the 
youthful  companion  of  his  fairy  at  the  Bayou  Sara —  a  silent,  reserved 
woman :  very  timid  and  very  polished.  Upon  the  gallery  she  was 
awaiting  the  return  of  her  cousin.  The  meeting  was  (as  all  meetings 
between  high-bred  women  should  be)  quiet,  but  cordial ;  without 
show,  but  full  of  heart.  They  loved  one  another,"  and  were  high- 
bred women.  The  stranger  was  presented,  and  at  tea  the  cousin  was 
informed  that  he  was  the  man  from  the  mountains,  and  there  was  a 
curious,  silent  surprise  in  her  face,  when  she  almost  whispered,  "  I 
am  pleased,  sir,  to  meet  you  again.  I  hope  you  will  realize  the 
romance  of  my  cousin's  dream  with  your  legends  of  the  West,  the 
woods,  and  the  wild  men  of  the  prairies." 

Days  went  by,  and  still  the  fever  raged  in  the  city.  The  cerulean 
was  bright  and  unflecked  with  a  speck  of  vapor,  like  a  concave 
mirror  of  burnished  steel.  It  hung  above,  and  the  red  sun  seemed 
to  burn  his  way  through  the  azure  mass.  The  leaves  drooped  as  if 
weighted  with  lead,  and  in  the  shade  kindly  thrown  upon  the  wilting 
grass  by  the  tulips,  oaks,  and  pecans  about  the  yard,  the  poultry 
lifted  their  wings  and  panted  with  exhaustion  in  the  sickly  heat  of 
the  fervid  atmosphere.  The  sun  had  long  passed  the  zenith,  dinner 
was  over,  and  the  inmates  were  enjoying  the  siesta,  so  refreshing  in 
this  climate  of  the  sun.  Here  and  there  the  leaves  would  start  and 
dally  with  a  vagrant  puff  from  vesper's  lips,  then  droop  again  as  if  in 
grief  at  the  vagaries  of  the  little  truant  which  now  was  fanning  and 
stirring  into  lazy  motion  another  leafy  limb. 

There  was  music  in  the  drawing  room.  It  was  suppressed  and 
soft  —  so  sweet  that  it  melted  into  the  heart  in  very  stealth.  Ah  !  it 
is  gone.  "  Home,  sweet  home  !"  Poor  Paine  !  like  you,  wander- 
ing in  the  friendless  streets  of  England's  metropolis  and  listening  to 
your  own  sweet  song,  breathed  from  titled  lips  in  palatial  homes, 
the  listener  to-day  was  homeless.  He  thought  of  you  and  the  con- 
vivial hours  he  had  passed  with  you,  listening  to  the  narrative  of 


FIFTY    YEARS.  287 

your  vagrant  life,  and  how  happy  you  were  in  the  poetry  of  your 
own  thoughts  when  you  were  a  stranger  to  every  one,  and  your  purse 
was  empty,  and  you  knew  not  where  you  were  to  find  your  dinner. 

Genius,  thou  art  a  fatal  gift !  Ever  creating,  never  realizing ; 
living  in  a  world  of  beauty  etherialized  in  imagination's  lens,  and 
hating  the  material  world  as  it  is  ;  buffoted  by  fortune  and  ridiculed 
by  fools  whose  conceptions  never  rise  above  the  dirt. 

A  little  note,  sweetly  scented,  is  placed  in  his  hand : 

"  Cousin  and  I  propose  a  ride.  Shall  we  have  your  company? 
You  are  aware  it  is  the  Sabbath.  You  must  not,  for  us,  do  violence 
to  your  prejudices." 

"  Is  this,"  thought  he,  "a  delicate  invitation  to  save  my  feelings, 
and  is  the  latter  clause  meant  as  a  hint  that  they  do  not  want  me  ? 
Well,  the  French  always,  when  a  compliment  has  as  much  bitter  as 
sweet  in  it,  take  the  sweet  and  leave  the  bitter  unappropriated.  It  is 
a  good  example.  I  will  follow  it.  Say  to  the  ladies  I  will  accom- 
pany them." 

"The  horses  are  all  ready,  sir;  and  the  ladies  bonneted  wait  in 
the  drawing-room." 

The  sun  was  in  the  tree-tops  and  the  shadows  were  long.  There 
was  a  flirtation  going  on  between  the  leaves  and  the  breeze.  The 
birds  were  flitting  from  branch  to  branch.  A  chill  was  on  the  air : 
it  was  bathing  the  cheek  with  its  delicious  touch,  and  animated  life 
was  rejoicing  that  evening  had  come. 

Arriving  at  the  great  mound  of  the  temple  of  the  sun,  with  some 
difficulty  they  climb  to  its  summit.  So  dense  is  the  shade  that  it  is 
almost  dark.  Here  are  two  graves,  in  which  sleep  the  remains  of 
the  grand-parents  of  these  two  beautiful  and  lovely  women.  All 
around  are  cultivated  fields  clothed  with  rich  crops,  luxuriant  with 
the  promise  of  abundance.  At  its  base  flows  the  little  creek,  gliding 
and  gabbling  along  over  pure  white  sand.  Sweet  Alice  !  How  sad 
she  seems !  She  stood  at  the  grave's  side,  and,  looking  down,  seemed 
lost  in  pious  reverie.  Every  feature  spoke  reverence  for  the  dead. 
Her  cousin,  too,  was  silent ;  and  if  not  reverent,  was  not  gay.  He, 
their  gallant,  was  respectfully  silent,  when  Alice  said,  without  lifting 
her  eyes : 

"  I  wonder  if  La  Salle  ever  stood  here  ?  "This  is  holy  ground.  No 
spot  on  earth  has  a  charm  for  me  like  this.  I  am  in  the  temple.  I 
see  the  attentive,  watchful  priest  feeding  there  (as  she  pointed)  the 


288  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

holy  fire,  and  yonder,  with  upturned  eyes,  the  great  lawgiver  wor- 
shipping his  god,  as  he  comes  up  from  his  sleep,  bringing  day, 
warmth,  light,  and  life.  Was  not  this  worship  pure?  Was  it  not 
natural  ?  The  sun  came  in  the  spring  and  awoke  everything  to  life. 
The  grass  sprang  from  the  ground  and  the  leaves  clothed  the  trees ; 
the  birds  chose  their  mates  and  the  flowers  gladdened  the  fields ; 
everything  was  redolent  of  life,  and  everything  rejoiced.  He  went 
away  in  the  winter,  and  death  filled  the  land.  There  were  no  leaves, 
no  grass,  no  flowers.  All  nature  was  gloomy  in  death.  Could  any 
but  a  god  effect  so  much  ?  The  sun  was  their  god  ;  his  temple  was 
the  sky,  and  his  holy  fire  burned  on  through  all  time.  Beautiful  con- 
ception !  Who  can  say  it  is  not  the  true  faith  ?  " 

"To  the  unlettered  mind,  it  was,"  answered  the  young  gentle- 
man ;  "because  the  imagination  could  only  be  aided  by  the  material 
presented  to  the  natural  eye.  Science  opens  the  eye  of  faith.  It 
teaches  that  the  sun  is  only  the  instrument,  and  faith  looks  beyond 
for  the  Creator.  To  such  the  Indian's  faith  cannot  be  the  true  one. 
The  ignorance  of  one  sees  God  in  the  instrument,  and  his  thoughts 
clothe  him  with  the  power  of  the  Creator,  and  his  heart  worships 
God  in  sincerity,  and  to  him  it  is  the  true  faith.  But  to  the  educated, 
scientific  man,  who  knows  the  offices  of  the  sun,  it  appears  as  it  is, 
only  the  creature  of  the  unseen,  unknown  God,  and  to  this  God  he 
lifts  his  adoration  and  prayers,  and  to  him  this  is  the  true  faith." 

"So,  my  philosopher,  you  believe,  whatever  lifts  the  mind  to  wor- 
ship God  is  the  true  faith  ?  " 

"  You  put  it  strongly,  Miss,  and  I  will  answer  by  a  question.  If 
in  sincerity  we  invoke  God's  mercy,  can  the  means  that  prompt 
the  heart's  devotion,  reliance,  and  love,  be  wrong  ?  His  magnitude 
and  perfection  are  a  mystery  to  the  untutored  savage:  he  knows  only 
what  he  sees.  The  earth  to  him,  (as  it  was  to  the  founders  and 
patriarchs  of  our  own  faith,)  is  all  the  world.  He  has  no  idea  that 
it  is  only  one,  and  a  small  one  of  a  numerous  family,  and  can  con- 
ceive only  that  the  sun  rules  his  world ;  gives  life  and  death  to  every- 
thing upon  the  earth — but  this  inspires  love  and  reverence  for  God. 
The  scientific  man  sees  in  the  sun  only  an  attractive  centre,  and  sees 
space  filled  with  self-illuminating  orbs,  and  reasoning  from  the  known 
to  the  unknown,  he  believes  these  centres  of  attraction  to  planetary 
families,  and  the  imagination  stretches  away  through  space  filled  with 
centres  and  revolving  worlds,  and  each  centre  with  its  dependents 


FIFTY     YEARS.  289 

revolving  around  one  great  centre,  and  this  great  centre  he  believes 
is  God.  His  idea  is  only  one  step  beyond  the  Indian's,  and  has 
only  the  same  effect :  it  leads  the  heart  to  depend  on  and  worship 
God." 

"  You  are  a  heretic,  and  must  like  a  naughty  boy  be  made  to  read 
your  Bible  and  go  to  Sunday-school,  and  be  lectured  and  taught  the 
true  faith.  Fy  1  fy !  shall  the  heathen  go  to  heaven  ?  Where  is  the 
provision  for  him  in  the  Bible  ?  What  are  we  to  do  with  missions  ? 
If  this  be  true,  there  is  no  need  that  we  should  be  sending  good  men 
and  dear,  pious  women  to  convert  the  Chinese,  the  Feejees,  and  the 
poor  Africans  so  benighted  that  their  very  color  is  black,  and  the 
Australians,  and  New  Georgians,  to  be  roasted  and  eaten  by  the  can- 
nibals there.  If  they  worship  God  in  sincerity,  you  say  that  is  all?  " 

"  No,  miss,  faith  without  works  is  a  futile  reliance  for  heaven.  It 
is  the  first  necessity,  and  perhaps  the  next  and  greatest,  is,  to  '  Do 
unto  all  what  you  would  have  all  do  unto  you.'  These  are  the  words 
of  the  great  Chinese  philosopher,  Confucius,  and  were  taught  four  and 
a  half  centuries  before  Christ,  yet  we  see  Him  teaching  the  same. 
This,  as  Confucius  said,  was  the  great  cardinal  duty  of  man,  and  all 
else  was  but  a  commentary  upon  this.  This  I  fancy  is  all,  at  least  it  is 
very  comprehensive.  You  tell  me  the  traditions  of  the  people  who 
worshipped  here  say  that  this  was  a  cardinal  law  unto  them?  " 

"  You,  sir,  have  lived  too  long  among  the  heathen,  if  you  are  not 
one  already.  You  are  like  an  August  peach  in  July:  you  are  turning, 
and  in  a  little  while  will  be  ripe.  You  talk,  as  Uncle  Toney  says, 
like  a  book,  and  to  me,  like  a  new  book,  for  yours  are  new  thoughts 
to  me.  Cousin,  does  he  not  astonish  you?" 

"  By  no  means ;  true,  they  are  new  thoughts ;  b^t  they  are  natural 
thoughts,  and  I  do  not  fear  to  listen  to  them  —  on  the  contrary,  I 
could  listen  to  them  all  day,  and,  Alice,  I  have  often,  very  often, 
heard  from  you  something  like  this." 

"Nonsense,  cousin,  nonsense;  I  am  orthodox,  you  know,  and  a 
good  girl  and  love  to  go  to  church,  especially  when  I  have  a  becom- 
ing new  dress." 

"  Here  are  the  bones  of  our  ancestors,  if  they  were  once  animated 
with  souls ;  and  I  guess  they  were,  particularly  the  old  man,  for  I 
have  heard  many  stories  from  old  Toney,  that  convince  me  that  he 
was  a  pretty  hard  one.  How  do  we  know  that  their  spirits  are  not  here 
by  us  now  ?  Why  is  it  deemed  that  there  shall  be  no  communication 
25  T 


290  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

between  the  living  and  the  dead  ?  O  !  how  I  want  to  ask  all  about 
the  spirit-land.  Wake  up  and  reclothe  thy  bones  and  become  again 
animated  dust,  and  tell  me  thou,  my  great  progenitor,  the  mys- 
teries of  the  grave,  of  heaven  and  hell.  How  quiet  is  the  grave  ? 
No  response,  and  it  is  impious  to  ask  what  I  have.  O  !  what  is  life 
which  animates  and  harmonizes  the  elements  of  this  mysterious  crea- 
tion, man  !  Life  how  imperious,  and  yet  how  kind ;  it  unites  and 
controls  these  antagonistic  elements,  and  they  do  not  quarrel  on  his 
watch.  Mingling  and  communing  they  go  on  through  time,  regard- 
less of  the  invitation  of  those  from  which  they  came  to  return.  But 
when  life  is  weary  of  his  trust  and  guardianship,  and  throws  up  his 
commission,  they  declare  war  at  once — dissolve,  and  each  returns  to 
;his  original.  Death  and  corruption  do  their  work,  and  life  returns  no 
:more,  and  death  is  eternal,  and  the  soul  —  answer  ye  dumb  graves — 
udid  the  soul  come  here?  or  went  it  with  life  to  the  great  first  cause  ? 
or  is  here  the  end  of  all ;  here,  this  little  tenement?  I  shudder — is 
it  the  flesh,  the  instinct  of  life  ;  or  is  it  the  soul  which  shrinks  with 
horror  from  this  little  portal  through  which  it  must  pass  to  eternal 
bliss,  or  eternal  —  horrible  !  Assist  me  to  my  horse,  if  you  please. 
Come  cousin,  let  us  go  and  see  old  Uncle  Toney  —  and,  sir,  he  will 
teach  you  more  philosophy  than  you  ever  dreamed  of." 

"Who  is  Uncle  Toney?  miss,"  asked  the  stranger  of  the  visiting 
cousin  when  he  returned  to  aid  her  descent  of  the  mound. 

"  He  is  a  very  aged  African,  brought  to  this  country  from  Caro- 
lina by  our  grandfather,  in  1775,  or  earlier;  he  says  there  were  rem- 
nants of  the  Natchez  in  the  country  at  that  time,  and  the  old  man 
has  many  stories  of  these,  and  many  more  very  strange  ones  of  the 
doings  of  the  whites  who  first  came  and  settled  the  country.  He 
retains  pretty  well  his  faculties,  and,  like  most  old  people,  is  garrulous 
and  loves  a  listener.  He  will  be  delighted  with  our  visit." 

"  Miss  Alice,  do  you  frequently  visit  Uncle  Toney?  " 

•"Very  nearly  every  day.  I  have  in  my  basket,  here,  something 
"for  the  old  man.  Turn  there,  if  you  please  —  yonder  by  that  light- 
ning-scared old  oak  and  those  top-heavy  pecans  is  his  cabin  and  has 
been  for  more  than  sixty  years.  Here  was  the  local  of  my  grand- 
father's house;  here  was  born  my  mother;  but  all  the  buildings  have 
long  been  gone  save  Uncle  Toney's  cabin.  Think  of  the  hopes,  the 
aspirations,  the  blisses,  the  sorrows,  the  little  world  that  once  was 
here  —  all  gone  except  Uncle  Toney.  In  my  childhood  I  used  to 


FIFTY     YEARS.  29! 

come  here  and  go  with  him  to  the  graves  where  we  have  been  to-day, 
and  have  sat  by  them  for  hours  listening  to  the  stories  he  delights  to 
tell  of  my  grandfather  and  mother,  until  their  very  appearance  seems 
familiar  to  my  vision.  I  know  that  my  grandfather  was  a  small  man, 
and  a  passionate  man,  and  Toney  sometimes  tells  me  I  am  like  him. 
His  eye  was  gray  —  so  is  mine ;  his  face  sharper  than  round  —  so  is 
mine,  and  sometimes  my  temper  is  terrible — so  was  his;  "  and  she 
laughed  again  that  same  wild  thrilling  laugh  as  she  gallopped  up  to 
the  cabin  and  leaped  down  to  greet  the  old  man,  who  was  seated  at 
the  door  of  his  hut  beneath  the  shade  of  a  catalpa,  the  trunk  of  which 
was  worn  smooth  from  his  long  leaning  against  it.  He  was  very 
black  and  very  fat.  His  wool  was  white  as  snow,  and  but  for  the 
seams  in  both  cheeks,  cut  by  the  knife  in  observance  of  some  ridicu- 
lous rite  in  his  native  land,  would  have  been  really  fine-looking  for 
one  of  his  age.  He  arose  and  shook  hands  with  the  cousin,  but  did 
not  approach  the  gentleman.  He  was  evidently  not  pleased  with  his 
presence  and  was  chary  of  his  talk. 

"Ah!  young  missus,"  he  said,  when  he  received  the  basket, 
"you  bring  old  Toney  sometin  good.  You  is  my  young  missus, 
too ;  but  dis  one  is  de  las  one.  Dey  is  all  married  and  gone  but 
dis  one."  (This  conversation  was  addressed  to  the  cousin.)  "All 
gone  away  but  dis  one,  and  when  she  marry  dare  will  be  nobody  to 
fetch  dis  ole  nigger  good  tings  and  talk  to  de  ole  man." 

"  Uncle  Toney,  I  don't  intend  to  marry." 

"Ha,  ha,  ha!  "  laughed  the  old  man,  "berry  well,  berry  well  ! 
I  hear  dat  from  ebery  one  ob  my  young  misses,  and  where  is  dey 
now  ?  All  done  married  and  gone.  You  gwine  to  do  jus  as  all  on 
em  hab  done,  byne  by  when  de  right  one  come.  Ah !  may  be  he 
come  now." 

"  You  old  sinner,  I  have  a  great  mind  to  pull  your  ears  for  you." 

"  O  no,  missus,  I  don't  know !  I  see  fine  young  man  dare;  but 
maybe  he  come  wid  Miss  Ann,  and  maybe  he  belong  to  her." 

"Uncle  Toney,  don't  you  remember  I  told  you  of  a  wild  man 
away  from  the  mountains,  all  clothed  in  skins,  with  a  long,  curly 
beard  and  hair  over  his  shoulders  as  black  as  a  stormy  night  ?  This 
is  he." 

"  Gosh  !  "  said  the  venerable  negro.  "  I  mus  shake  his  hand; 
but  what  hab  you  done  wid  your  beard,  your  hair,  and  your  huntin- 
shirt?" 


292  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

"  I  have  thrown  them  all  into  the  fire,  uncle.  People  among 
white  people  must  not  dress  like  Indians." 

"Dat's  a  fac,  young  massa ;  but  I  tell  you  Miss  Alice  was  mity 
taken  wid  dem  tings.  She  come  here  soon  as  she  corned  home,  and 
told  me  all  about  'em  and  all  about  you — how  you  could  shoot  de 
bow  and  how  you  could  talk,  and  she  said :  '  O  !  what  would  I  not 
give  to  see  him  again  ?  '  " 

"  Toney,  if  you  don't  shut  up,  I  won't  come  to  see  you,  or  bring 
you  any  more  good  things.  This  young  gentleman  has  come  with 
us  to  see  you,  and  wishes  to  hear  you  tell  all  about  the  Natchez,  and 
to  get  you  to  show  him  the  many  things  you  have  dug  up  on  and 
around  these  mounds,  and  have  you  tell  him  all  about  the  old  people 
who  came  here  first  and  made  all  these  big  plantations  and  built  all 
these  great  houses." 

"Well,  Miss  Alice,  dis  is  Sunday,  you  know,  and  dem  tings  mus 
not  be  telled  on  Sunday,  and  den  you  and  Miss  Ann  don't  want  ole 
nigger  to  talk.  You  go  ride  and  talk  wid  de  young  gemman,  and 
maybe  to-morrow,  or  some  week-day,  young  massa  can  come  down 
from  de  great  house  wid  de  gun  to  shoot  de  squirrels  along  de  way, 
and  when  he  tired,  den  he  can  come  and  rest,  and  I  can  tell  him  all. 
Yes,  young  massa,  I  been  live  long  time  here.  Me  is  mity  old.  All 
dem  what  was  here  when  I  corned  wid  ole  massa  is  dead  long  time. 
Yes,  dare  aint  one  on  em  livin  now,  and  dare  chillin  is  old." 

"I  shall  be  sure  to  come,"  said  the  young  man,  "and  suppose  I 
bring  with  me  these  ladies  ?  " 

"Neber  you  do  dat,  massa.  I  knows  young  folks  ways  too  well 
for  dat.  Toney  may  talk,  but  dey  neber  will  listen.  Dey  will  talk 
wid  one  anoder,  and  Miss  Alice  been  hear  all  de  ole  nigger's  tallc 
many  a  time,  and  she  don't  want  to  hear  it  ober  and  ober  all  de 
time ;  and  beside  dat,  young  massa,  sometimes  when  I  tells  bout  de 
ole  folks,  she  trimbles  and  cries.  She  's  got  a  mity  soft  heart  bout 
some  tings,  and  she  tells  me  I  mus  tell  you  eberyting." 

"  There  now,  Toney,  you  have  said  enough  about  me  to  make  the 
gentleman  think  I  am  a  very  silly  little  girl." 

"God  bress  my  young  missus!  "  he  said  as  he  tenderly  patted 
her  head.  "  I  wouldn't  hurt  your  feelins  for  norfin.  You  is  too 
good,  Miss  Alice.  Toney  lubed  your  mamma  —  Toney  lubs  you, 
and  de  day  you  is  married  and  goes  away,  I  want  to  go  away  too. 
I  want  to  go  yonder,  Miss  Alice,  on  de  top  ob  dat  mound,  and  lie 


FIFTY     YEARS.  293 

down  wid  o'.e  massa  and  missus.  He  told  your  pa  to  put  me  dar ; 
but  your  pa 's  gone.  O  Miss  Alice  !  dey  's  all  gone  but  you  and  me 
and  your  brodder,  and  he  don't  care  for  Toney,  and  maybe  he  will 
trow  him  out  in  de  woods  like  a  dog  when  he  die."  Tears  stole 
down  the  black  face  of  the  venerable  man,  and  the  eyes  of  Alice 
filled  — and  then  she  laughed  the  shrill,  fearful  laugh,  and  rode 
rapidly  away. 

She  was  singing  and  walking  hurriedly  the  gallery,  when  the 
stranger  and  her  cousin  came  leisurely  into  the  yard. 

"Your  cousin,  Miss  Ann,  has  a  strange  laugh." 

"  Indeed  she  has,  sir;  but  we  who  know  her  understand  it.  She 
never  laughs  that  unearthly  laugh  when  her  heart  is  at  ease.  I  doubt 
if  you  have  ever  met  such  a  person.  I  think  the  world  has  but  one 
Alice.  She  is  very  young,  very  impressible,  and  some  think  very 
eccentric,  very  passionate  and  romantic  to  frenzy.  There  is  some- 
thing which  impels  me-to  tell  you  —  but  no,  I  have  no  right  to  do 
so.  But  this  I  must  tell  you ;  for  you  cannot  have  been  in  the  house 
here  so  long  without  observing  it.  There  is  no  congeniality  between 
herself  and  brother ;  indeed,  very  little  between  her  and  any  of  her 
family.  She  is  alone.  She  is  one  by  herself;  yes,  one  by  herself 
in  the  midst  of  many ;  for  the  family  is  a  large  one.  But  remember, 
there  is  none  like  Alice.  Be  gentle  to  her  and  pity  her ;  and  pity 
her  most  when  you  hear  that  strange  laugh." 

There  was  music  in  the  drawing-room,  soft  and  gentle,  and  the 
accompanying  voice  was  tremulous  with  suppressed  emotion.  Grad- 
ually it  swells  in  volume  until  it  fills  the  spacious  apartment,  and  the 
clear  notes  from  the  tender  trill  rose  grandly  in  full,  clear  tones,  full 
of  pathetic  melody,  and  now  they  almost  shriek.  They  cease  —  and 
the  laugh,  hysterical  and  shrill,  echoes  through  the  entire  house. 
The  judge  was  silent ;  but  a  close  observer  might  have  seen  a  slight 
contraction  of  the  lips,  and  a  slighter  closing  of  the  eyes.  A  moment 
after  Alice  entered  the  room,  and  there  was  a  glance  exchanged 
between  her  brother  and  herself.  There  was  in  it  a  meaning  only 
for  themselves. 

"You  have  been  riding,  sir,"  he  said  to  his  guest,  "and  my  sister 
tells  me  to  the  mound  at  the  White  Apple  village.  To  those  curious 
in  such  legends  as  are  connected  with  its  history,  it  is  an  interesting 
spot.  All  I  know.in  relation  to  these,  I  acquired  from  a  dreamy  and 
solitary  man  employed  by  my  father  to  fit  myself  and  brother  for 
25* 


294  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

college.  He  read  French,  and  was  fond  of  tracing  all  he  could  find 
in  the  writings  of  the  historians  of  the  first  settlement  of  Louisiana 
and  Mississippi,  and  of  the  history,  habits,  and  customs  of  the  abori- 
gines of  the  country.  He  knew  something  of  the  adventures  of  De 
Soto  and  La  Salle,  and  something  of  the  traditions  of  the  Natchez. 
He  was  a  melancholy  man,  and  perished  by  his  own  hand  in  the 
chamber  that  you  occupy.  My  sister  is  curious  in  such  matters,  and 
from  her  researches  in  some  old  musty  volumes  she  has  found  in 
the  possession  of  an  old  European  family,  she  has  made  quite  a  his- 
tory of  the  Natchez,  and  from  the  old  servants  much  of  that  of  the 
first  white  or  English  occupants  of  this  section.  For  myself,  I  have 
little  curiosity  in  that  way.  My  business  forbids  much  reading  of 
that  kind,  and  indeed  much  of  anything  else,  and  I  am  glad  that  my 
tastes  and  my  business  accord.  I  would  not  exchange  one  crop  of 
cotton  grown  on  the  village-field,  for  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  every  Indian  tribe  upon  the  continent." 

"  I  am  no  antiquarian,  sir.  A  life  on  a  plantation  I  suppose  must 
be  most  irksome  and  monotonous  to  a  young  lady,  unless  she  should 
have  some  resource  besides  her  rural  employments." 

"Our  only  amusements,  sir,"  said  Alice,  "are  reading,  riding, 
and  music,  with  an  occasional  visit  to  a  neighbor.  I  ride  through 
the  old  forest  and  consult  the  great  patriarchal  trees,  and  they  tell 
me  many  strange  stories.  When  the  ruthless  axe  has  prostrated  one 
of  these  forest  monarchs,  my  good  palfrey  waits  for  me,  and  I  count 
the  concentric  circles  and  learn  his  age.  Some  I  have  seen  which 
have  yielded  to  man's  use  or  cupidity  who  have  looked  over  the 
younger  scions  of  the  woods,  and  upon  the  waters  of  the  mighty 
river  a  thousand  years." 

"Indeed,  miss,"  replied  the  guest,  "I  had  not  supposed  the  nat- 
ural life  of  any  of  our  forest  trees  extended  beyond  three,  or  at  most 
four  centuries." 

"The  tulip  or  poplar-tree  and  the  red-oak  in  the  rich  loam  of 
these  hills  live  long  and  attain  to  giant  proportions.  The  vines  which 
cling  in  such  profusion  to  many  of  these  are  commensurate  with 
them  in  time.  They  spring  up  at  their  bases  and  grow  with  them  : 
the  tree  performing  the  kindly  office  of  nurse,  lifting  them  in  her 
arms  and  carrying  them  until  their  summits,  with  united  leaves,  seem 
to  kiss  the  clouds.  They  live  and  cling  together  through  tempests  and 
time  until  worn  out  with  length  of  days,  when  they  tumble  and  fall 


FIFTY     YEARS.  295 

to  the  earth  together,  and  together  die.  We  all,  Flora  and  Fauna, 
go  down  to  the  bosom  of  our  common  mother  to  rest  in  death.  I 
love  the  companionship  of  the  forest.  There  is  an  elevation  of  soul 
in  this  communion  with  incorruptible  nature  :  there  is  sincerity  and 

truth  in  the  hills  and  valleys  —  in  the  trees  and  vines,  and  music 

grand  orchestral  music  —  in  the  moaning  of  the  limbs  and  leaves, 
played  upon  by  the  hurrying  winds.  I  have  prayed  to  be  a  savage. 
and  to  live  in  the  woods." 

"  You  are  as  usual,  sister,  very  romantic  to-night." 

"  By  and  by,  brother,  I  shall  forget  it  I  presume.     I  am  human, 

and  shall  soon  die,  or  live  on  till  time  hardens  my  nature,  or  sordid 

pursuits  plough  from  my  heart  all  its  sympathies,  and  old  age  finds 

me  gloating  over  the  gains  of  laborious  care  and  penurious  meanness. 

" '  To  such  vile  uses  we  must  come  at  last.'  " 

"  You  draw  a  sad  picture,  miss,  for  old  age.  Do  not  the  gentler 
virtues  of  our  nature  ever  ripen  with  time  ?  Is  it  the  alchemist  who 
always  turns  the  sweets  of  youth  to  the  sours  of  age  ?  There  are 
many  examples  in  every  community  to  refute  your  position.  I  would 
instance  the  venerable  negro  we  visited  to-day.  He  wept  as  he 
placed  his  trembling  hand  upon  your  head.  There  was  surely 
nothing  ascetic  or  sordid  in  his  feelings." 

"  Uncle  Toney  is  an  exception,  sir.  The  affectionate  memories 
he  has  of  our  family,  and  especially  of  my  mother  and  father,  redeems 
him  from  the  obloquy  of  his  race.  His  heart  is  as  tender  as  his  con- 
duct is  void  of  offense.  He  was  a  slave.  God  had  ordained  him  for 
his  situation.  He  had  not  the  capacity  to  aspire  beyond  his  lot,  or 
to  contrast  it  with  his  master's.  Contented  to  render  his  service,  and 
satisfied  with  the  supply  of  his  wants  from  the  hands  of  him  he  served 
—  he  had  a  home,  and  all  the  comforts  his  nature  required.  He  has  it 
still ;  but  I  know  he  is  not  as  contented  as  when  he  was  my  father's 
slave.  God  bless  the  old  man !  He  shall  never  want  while  I  have 
anything,  and  should  I  see  him  die,  he  shall  sleep  where  he  wished 
to-day." 

"  By  our  grandfather,  I  suppose,  Alice  ?  " 

"  Yes,  my  brother,  by  our  grand-parents.  They  told  him  it  should 
be  so.  Ah  !  there  are  no  distinctions  in  the  grave ;  white  skin  and 
black  skin  alike  return  to  dust,  and  the  marl  of  the  earth  is  composed 


296  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

alike  of  the  bones  of  all  races,  and  their  properties  seem  to  be  the  same. 
I,  too,  wish  to  sleep  there.  It  is  a  romantically  beautiful  spot,  and 
its  grand  old  traditions  make  it  holy  ground.  How  its  associations 
hallow  it !  Imagination  peoples  it  with  those  bold  old  red  raen 
who  assembled  in  the  temple  to  worship  the  holy  fire — emblematic 
of  their  faith  —  humbling  their  fierce  natures  and  supplicating  for 
mercy.  I  go  there  and  I  feel  in  the  touch  of  the  air  that  it  is  peo- 
pled with  the  spirits  of  the  mighty  dead,  surrounding  and  blessing 
me  for  my  memory  of,  and  love  for,  their  extinct  race." 

"  Bravo,  sister  !  What  an  enthusiast !  You,  sir,  have  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  Indians.  Do  they  stir  the  romance  of  your  nature  as 
that  of  my  baby  sister  ?  ' ' 

The  glance  from  her  eye  was  full  of  scorn  :  it  flashed  with  almost 
malignant  hate  as  she  rose  from  her  seat,  and  taking  the  arm  of  her 
cousin  she  swept  from  the  room,  audibly  whispering  "baby  sister" 
in  sneering  accents. 

"Woman's  nature  is  a  strange  study,  my  young  friend.  I  have 
several  sisters  and  they  are  all  strange,  each  in  her  peculiar  way. 
They  are  remarkable  for  the  love  they  bear  their  husbands,  and  yet 
they  all  have  a  pleasure  in  tormenting  them,  and  are  never  so 
unhappy,  as  when  they  see  these  happy.  This  younger  sister  has  a 
nature  all  her  own.  I  do  not  think  she  shares  a  trait  with  another 
living  being.  Wild,  yet  gentle ;  the  eagle  to  some,  to  some  the 
dove.  Quick  as  the  lightning  in  her  temper  —  as  fervid,  too;  a 
heart  to  hate  intensely,  and  yet  to  melt  in  love  and  worship  its 
object ;  but  would  slay  it,  if  she  felt  it  had  deceived  her.  Always 
searching  into  the  history  of  the  past,  and  always  careless  of  the 
future. ' ' 

"You  have  drawn  something  of  the  character  of  a  Spanish  woman. 
Their  love  and  their  hate  is  equally  fieice;  and  both  easily  excited, 
they  are  devoted  in  all  their  passions.  I  have  thought  that  this  grew 
from  the  secluded  life  they  live.  Ardency  is  natural  to  the  race, 
and  this  restrained  makes  their  lives  one  long  romance.  Their 
world  is  all  of  imagination.  The  contacts  of  real  life  they  never 
meet  outside  of  their  prison-homes,  and  the  influence  of  experience 
is  never  known.  They  are  seen  through  bars,  are  sought  through  bars, 
they  love  through  bars — and  the  struggle  is,  to  escape  from  these 
restraints ;  and  the  moral  of  the  act  or  means  for  its  accomplishment, 
or  the  object  to  be  attained,  never  enters  the  mind.  Such  natures 


FIFTY    YEARS.  297 

properly  reared  to  know  the  world,  to  see  it,  hear  it,  and  suffer  it, 
tunes  all  the  attributes  of  the  mind  and  heart  to  make  sweet  music. 
Nothing  mellows  the  heart  like  sorrow ;  nothing  so  softens  the  obdu- 
racy of  our  natures  as  experience.  None,  sir,  man  or  woman,  are 
fitted  for  the  world  without  the  experiences  its  contact  brings.  These 
experiences  are  teachings,  and  the  bitter  ones  the  best.  To  be  happy, 
we  must  have  been  miserable;  it  is  the  idiosyncracy  of  the  mind,  to 
judge  by  comparison  ;  and  the  eternal  absence  of  grief  leaves  the 
mind  unappreciative  of  the  incidents  and  excitements  which  bring  to 
him  or  her  who  have  suffered,  such  exquisite  enjoyment.  The  rue  of 
life  is  scarcely  misery  to  those  who  have  never  tasted  its  ambrosia." 

"You  are  young,  sir,  thus  to  philosophize,  and  must  have  seen  and 
experienced  more  than  your  years  would  indicate." 

"  Some,  sir,  in  an  incident  see  all  of  its  characters  that  the  world 
in  a  lifetime  may  present.  They  suffer,  and  they  enjoy  with  an 
acuteness  unknown  to  most  natures;  and  in  youth  gain  the  expe- 
riences and  knowledge  they  impart,  while  most  of  the  world  forget 
the  pain  and  the  pleasure  of  an  incident  with  its  evanescence.  With 
such,  experience*  teaches  nothing.  These  progress  in  the  world 
blindly  and  are  always  stumbling  and  falling." 

"The  ladies  have  retired  —  shall  we  imitate  their  example,  sir? 
This  will  light  you  to  your  chamber ;  good  night." 

Alone,  and  kindly  shielded  with  the  darkness,  the  adventurer  lay 
thoughtful  and  sleepless.  Here  are  two  strange  beings.  There  is  in 
the  one  angelic  beauty  animated  with  a  soul  of  giant  proportions, 
large  in  love,  large  in  hate,  and  grandly  large  in  its  aspirations; 
and  yet  it  is  chained  to  a  rock  with  fetters  that  chafe  at  every  motion. 
The  other  cold,  emotionless,  with  a  reserved  severity  of  manner, 
which  is  the  offspring  of  a  heart  as  malignant  and  sinister  as  Satan 
himself  may  boast  of.  They  hate  each  other,  but  how  different  that 
hatred !  The  one  is  an  emotion  fierce  and  fiei^  but  without  malice;  the 
other  malicious  and  revengeful.  One  is  the  hatred  of  the  recipient 
of  an  injury  who  can  forgive  ;  the  other  the  hatred  of  one  who 
has  inflicted  an  injury  with  calculation.  Such  never  forgive.  And 
this  I  arn  sure  is  the  relation  of  this  brother  and  sister.  Deprived 
when  yet  young  of  the  fostering  care  of  a  mother,  scarcely  remem- 
bering her  father,  she  has  been  the  ward  of  this  cold,  hard  being, 
whose  pleasure  it  has  been  to  thwart  every  wish  of  this  lovely  being: 
to  hate  her  because  she  is  lovely,  and  to  aggravate  into  fury  her 


298  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

resentments,  and  to  sour  every  generous  impulse  of  her  extraordinary 
nature.  What  a  curse  to  have  so  sensitive  a  being  subjected  to  the 
training  of  so  cold  and  malignant  a  one  ! 

There  is  no  natural  affection.  The  heart  is  born  a  waste :  its  loves, 
its  hates  are  of  education  and  association ;  and  the  responsibility  for 
the  future  of  a  child  rests  altogether  with  those  intrusted  with  its 
rearing  and  training.  The  susceptibilities  only  are  born  with  the 
heart,  and  these  may  be  cultivated  to  good  or  evil,  as  imperceptibly 
as  the  light  permeates  the  atmosphere.  These  capacities  or  suscepti- 
bilities are  acute  or  obtuse  as  the  cranium's  form  will  indicate,  and 
require  a  system  suited  to  each.  Attention  soon  teaches  this :  the 
one  grows  and  expands  beautifully  with  the  slightest  attention ;  the 
other  is  a  fat  soil,  and  will  run  to  weeds,  without  constant,  close,  and 
deep  cultivation,  and  its  production  of  good  fruit  is  in  exact  propor- 
tion with  its  fertility  and  care.  It  gives  the  most  trouble  but  it  yields 
the  greatest  product.  And  here  in  that  warm,  impulsive  heart  is  the 
fat  soil.  O !  for  the  hand  to  weed  away  all  that  is  noxious  now 
rooting  there.  That  look,  that  whispered  bitterness  was  the  fruit  of 
wicked  wrong  —  I  know  it ;  the  very  nature  prompting  there  would 
give  the  sweetest  return  to  justice,  kindness,  and  love. 


CHAPTER     XXII. 

THE    ROMANCE    CONTINUED. 

FATHER  CONFESSOR  — OPEN  CONFESSION  — THE  UNREAD  WILL— OLD  TONEY'S 
NARRATIVE — SQUIRREL  SHOOTING  —  THE  FAREWELL  UNSAID  —  BROTHERS- 
IN-LAW —  FAREWELL  INDEED. 

WHEN  the  morrow  came,  the  clouds  were  weeping  and  the 
damp  was  dripping  from  every  leaf,  and  gloomy  rifts  of 
spongy  vapor  floated  lazily  upon  the  breeze,  promising  a  wet  and 
very  unpleasant  day.  These  misty  periods  rarely  endure  many  hours 
in  the  autumn,  but  sometimes  they  continue  for  days.  The  atmos- 
phere seems  half  water,  and  its  warm  damp  compels  close-housing, 
to  avoid  the  clammy,  sickly  feeling  met  beyond  the  portals.  At 


•        FIFTY     YEARS.  299 

such  times,  time  hangs  heavily,  and  every  resource  sometimes  fails  to 
dispel  the  gloom  and  ennui  consequent  upon  the  weather;  conversa- 
tion will  pall ;  music  cease  to  delight,  and  reading  weary.  To  stand 
and  watch  the  rain  through  the  window-panes,  to  lounge  from  the 
drawing-room  to  your  chamber,  to  drum  with  your  fingers  upon  the 
table  —  to  beat  your  brain  for  a  thought  which  you  vainly  seek  to 
weave  into  rhyme  in  praise  of  your  inamorata  —  all  is  unavailing. 
The  rain  is  slow  but  ceaseless,  and  the  hours  are  days  to  the  unem- 
ployed mind.  We  hum  a  tune  and  whistle  to  hurry  time,  but  the 
indicating  fingers  of  the  tediously  ticking  clock  seems  stationary, 
and  time  waits  for  fair  weather.  The  ladies  love  their  chambers,  and 
sleeping  away  the  laggard  hours,  do  not  feel  the  oppression  of  a  slow, 
continuous,  lazy  rain. 

The  morning  has  well-nigh  passed,  and  the  drawing-room  is  still 
untenanted.  The  judge  was  busy  in  his  office,  looking  over  papers  and 
accounts,  seemingly  unconscious  of  the  murky  day;  perhaps  he  had 
purposely  left  this  work  for  such  a  day — wise  judge — a  solitary  man, 
unloving,  and  unloved ;  hospitable  by  freaks,  sordid  by  habit,  and 
mean  by  nature.  Yet  he  was  wise  in  his  way ;  devoid  of  sentiment 
or  sympathy  as  a  grind-stone,  his  wit  was  as  sharp  as  his  heart  was 
cold.  Absorbed  in  himself,  the  outside  world  was  nothing  to  him. 
He  had  work,  gainful  work  for  all  weathers,  and  therefore  no  feeling 
for  those  who  suffered  from  the  weather  or  the  world,  if  it  cost  him 
nothing  in  pence.  He  was  the  guardian  of  his  baby  sister ;  but  all 
of  her  he  had  in  his  heart  was  a  care  that  she  should  not  marry, 
before  he  was  ready  to  settle  her  estate.  The  interest  he  felt  in 
her,  was  his  commissions  for  administering  her  property  with  a 
legitimate  gain  earned  in  the  use  of  her  money. 

The  guest  of  this  strange  man  was  restless,  he  knew  not  why ;  there 
were  books  in  abundance,  and  their  authors'  names  were  read  over 
and  over  again  as  he  rummaged  the  book-cases  he  knew  not  for  what. 
First  one  and  then  another  was  pulled  out  from  its  companions,  the 
title-page  read  and  replaced  again,  only  to  take  another.  Idly  he 
was  turning  the  pages  of  one,  when  a  voice  surprised  him  and  sweetly 
inquired  at  his  elbow  if  he  found  amusement  or  edification  in  his 
employment.  "  I  must  apologize  for  my  rudely  leaving  you  last 
night.  I  hope  I  am  incapable  of  deceit  or  unnecessary  concealments. 
I  was  hurt  and  angry,  and  I  went  away  in  a  passion.  Yours  is  a 
gentle  nature,  you  do  not  suffer  your  feelings  to  torture  and  master 


300  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

you.  I  should  not,  but  I  am  incapable  of  the  effort  necessary  to 
their  control.  It  is  best  with  me  that  they  burn  out,  but  their  very 
ashes  lie  heavily  upon  my  heart.  Our  clime  is  a  furnace,  and  her 
children  are  flame,  at  least,  strange  sir,  some  of  them  are  a  self- 
consuming  flame.  I  feel  that  is  my  nature.  Is  not  this  an  honest 
confession  ?  I  could  explain  further  in  extenuation  of  my  strange 
nature.  It  was  not  my  nature  until  it  was  burned  into  my  very 
soul.  I  am  very  young,  but  the  bitterness  of  my  experiences  makes 
me  old,  at  least  in  feeling.  But  you  are  not  my  father  confessor  — 
then  why  do  I  talk  to  you  as  to  one  long  known?  Because  — 
perhaps — but  never  mind  the  reason.  I  know  my  cousin  has  whis- 
pered something  to  you  of  me ;  my  situation,  my  nature  —  is  it  not 
so?" 

"  Ah  !  you  would  be  my  father  confessor.  You  must  not  interro- 
gate, but  if  you  would  know,  ask  your  cousin." 

"O !  no,  I  could  not.  Is  it  not  strange  that  woman  will  confide  to 
the  strange  man,  what  she  will  not  to  the  kindred  woman?  Woman 
will  not  sympathize  with  woman  ;  she  goes  not  to  her  for  comfort, 
for  sympathy,  for  relief.  Is  this  natural?  Men  lean  on  one 
another,  women  only  on  man.  Is  this  natural?  Is  it  instinctive? 
or  an  acquired  faculty?  Do  not  laugh  at  me,  I  am  very  foolish  and 
very  sad ;  such  a  day  should  sadden  every  one.  But  my  cousin  is 
very  cheerful,  twitters  and  flits  about  like  an  uncaged  canary,  and  is 
as  cheerful  when  it  rains  all  day,  as  when  the  sun  in  her  glory  glad- 
dens all  the  earth  and  everything  thereon.  I  am  almost  a  Natchez, 
for  I  worship  the  sun.  How  I  am  running  on  !  You  are  gentle  and 
kind,  are  you  not  ?  You  are  quick,  perceptive  —  you  have  seen 
that  I  am  not  happy  —  sympathize,  but  do  not  pity  me.  That  is  a 
terrible  struggle  between  prudence  and  inclination.  There,  now  I 
am  done  —  don't  you  think  me  very  foolish?  " 

"  Miss  Alice  —  (will  you  allow  me  this  familiarity?)  " 

"  Yes,  when  we  are  alone;  not  before  cousin  or  my  man  brother." 
(She  almost  choked  with  the  word.)  "Not  before  strangers  —  we 
are  not  strangers  when  alone.  You  read  my  nature,  as  I  do  yours, 
and  we  are  not  strangers  when  alone.  It  is  not  long  acquaintance 
which  makes  familiar  friends.  The  mesmeric  spark  will  do  more 
than  years  of  intercommunication,  where  there  is  no  congeniality  — 
and  do  it  in  a  little  precious  moment.  The  bloody  arrow  we  held  in 
common  was  an  electric  chain.  I  learned  you  at  the  plucking  of 


FIFTY   YEARS.  30! 

that  arrow  from  the  cotton  bale  —  in  your  strange,  wild  garb ;  but 
never  mind  — what  were  you  going  to  say?  " 

"  I  was  going  to  say  that  our  acquaintance  was  very  brief,  but  what 
I  have  seen  or  heard,  I  will  not  tell  to  you  or  to  any  one.  Your 
imagination  is  magnifying  yqur  sufferings.  You  want  a  heart  to 
confide  in.  You  have  brothers-in-law,  wise  and  strong  men. 

"That,  for  the  whole  of  them,"  she  said,  as  she  snapped  her 
fingers.  "Their  wives  are  my  sisters,  some  of  them  old  enough  to 
be  my  mother,  but  they  and  their  husbands  are  alike  — sordid.  The 
hope  of  money  is  even  more  debasing  than  the  hoarding.  Do  you 
understand  me  ?  I  must  speak  or  my  heart  will  burst.  Are  you  a 
wizzard  that  you  have  so  drawn  me  on?  Dare  I  speak?  Is  it 
maidenly  that  I  should  ?  There  is  a  spell  upon  me.  Go  to  your 
chamber — there  is  a  spy  upon  me;  I  am  seen,  and  I  fear  I  have  been 
overheard ;  go  to  your  chamber  —  here,  take  this  book  and  read  it 
if  you  never  have — dinner  is  at  hand,  and  after  dinner — ,  but  let 
each  hour  provide  for  itself,  —  at  dinner,  — well,  well,  adieu." 

She  was  in  the  drawing-room,  and  again  the  soft  melody  of  half- 
suppressed  music,  scarcely  audible,  yet  every  note  distinct,  floated 
to  his  chamber,  and  the  guest  scarcely  breathed  that  he  might  hear. 
There  was  something  so  plaintive,  so  melting  in  the  tones  that  they 
saddened  as  well  as  delighted.  How  the  heart  can  melt  out  at  the 
finger-points  when  touching  the  keys  of  a  sweetly-toned  instrument ! 
It  is  thrown  to  the  air,  and  in  its  plaint  makes  sweet  music  of  its 
melancholy.  Like  harmonious  spirits  chanting  in  their  invisibility, 
making  vocal  the  very  atmosphere,  it  died  away  as  though  going  to 
a  great  distance,  and  stillness  was  in  the  whole  house.  He  stole 
gently  to  the  door.  There  seated  was  Alice ;  her  elbow  on  her  instru- 
ment, and  her  brow  upon  her  hand.  The  bell  rang  for  dinner.  The 
repast  is  over,  and  a  glass  of  generous  wine  sent  the  rose  to  the 
cheeks  of  Alice,  but  enlivened  not  her  eye.  Her  heart  was  sad :  the 
eye  spoke  it  but  too  plainly,  and  she  looked  beautiful  beyond  com- 
parison. The  eye  of  the  stranger  was  rivetted  upon  that  drooping 
lid  and  more  than  melancholy  brow. 

His  situation  was  a  painful  one.  More  than  once  had  he  caught 
the  quick,  suspicious  glance  of  the  judge  flash  upon  him.  He  was 
becoming  an  object  of  interest  to  more  than  one  in  the  house ;  but 
how  different  that  interest !  How  at  antipodes  the  motives  of  that 
interest !  He  knew  too  much,  and  yet  he  wanted  to  know  more. 
26 


302  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

He  was  left  alone  in  the  drawing-room  with  the  timid,  modest  little 
cousin.  It  rained  on,  and  the  weather  seemed  melancholy,  and  their 
feelings  were  in  unison  with  the  weather. 

"  I  shall  leave,  I  believe,  miss,  as  soon  as  the  rain  will  permit.  I 
presume  I  may  go  down  to  the  city  without  fear." 

"  You  will  find  it  but  a  sorry  place,  sir.  All  the  hotels  are  closed 
and  everybody  is  out  of  town  save  the  physicians,  and  the  poor  who 
are  unable  to  get  away.  The  gloom  of  the  desolated  place  is  enough 
to  craze  any  one.  I  hope  you  do  not  find  your  stay  disagreeable  in 
this  house?" 

"  I  will  not  attempt  to  deceive  you,  miss.  I  cannot  say  why;  but 
I  feel  uncomfortable  —  not  at  my  ease.  It  were  needless  for  me  to 
repeat  it;  I  am  sure  you  know  the  cause." 

"Perhaps  I  do,  sir;  and  still  I  cannot  see  in  that  sufficient  cause 
for  your  going  away.  Perhaps,  sir,  we  are  not  thinking  of  the  same 
cause,"  she  said  with  a  mischievous  twinkle  in  her  eye. 

"  I  particularly  allude  to  what  you  yourself  communicated  to  me. 
I  perceive  Miss  Alice  is  very  unhappy,  and  I  also  am  apprehensive 
that  I  may  in  some  way  be  the  cause  of  this." 

"I  will  tell  you,  sir,  any  special  attention  on  your  part  to  Alice 
will  enrage  her  brother.  From  motives  known  to  himself,  he  is  very 
much  opposed  to  her  marrying  any  one.  His  reasons  as  given  are 
that  she  is  so  peculiar  in  her  disposition  that  she  would  only  increase 
her  own  misery  in  making  her  husband  miserable,  which  her  eccen- 
tric nature  would  certainly  insure.  I  have  heard  that  he  has  some- 
times had  a  thought  of  carrying  her  to  an  asylum  for  the  insane. 
The  world,  however,  is  not  charitable  enough  to  believe  this  the  true 
reason.  The  judge  is  very  grasping,  and  he  has  in  his  hands  Alice's 
fortune.  Some  of  his  own  family  suppose  he  desires  the  use  of  it  as 
long  as  possible.  There  are  many  hard  things  said  of  him  in  relation 
to  his  influencing  his  mother  to  leave  him  the  lion's  share  of  her 
estate.  This  very  home  was  intended  for  Alice,  and  though  he  had 
not  spoken  to  his  mother  for  years,  in  her  last  hours  he  came  with  a 
prepared  will  and  insisted  on  her  signing  it.  She  feared  him  (most 
people  do)  and  affixed  her  name  to  the  fatal  document,  which  report 
says  was  never  read  to  her.  After  that  she  could  not  bear  the  pres- 
ence of  Alice,  saying  in  her  delirium  :  '  My  poor  baby  will  hate  me ; 
I  have  turned  her  from  her  home.'  Alice  has  learned  all  this,  and 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


303 


she  has  upbraided  him  with  his  conduct ;  for  once  provoked  she  does 
not  even  fear  him." 

"Why  do  not  her  brothers-in-law  inquire  into  this?  They  are 
equally  interested  in  the  matter  it  seems  to  me." 

"  Ah,  sir  !  they  are  hoping  that  he  may  do  them  justice  in  his  will. 
I  am  sure  this  is  the  understanding  with  at  least  one  of  them,  and 
neither  of  them  will  hazard  a  loss  to  protect  the  rights  of  Alice. 
Large  expectations  are  strong  inducements  to  selfishness.  I  am  dis- 
closing family  matters,  sir;  but  I  have  done  so  from  a  good  motive. 
It  is  but  half  disclosed  to  you ;  but  the  rest  I  must  not  tell.  You  are 
not  so  dull  as  not  from  what  I  have  said  to  be  able  to  shape  your 
conduct.  Alice  is  coming." 

The  rain  had  ceased,  and  for  two  days  the  genial  sun  had  drank 
up  the  moisture  from  the  land,  which  underfoot  was  dry  again.  The 
autumn  had  come,  and  the  earth  groaned  with  the  rich  products  of 
this  favored  land.  The  cotton-fields  were  whitening,  and  the  yellow 
corn's  pendant  ears  hung  heavily  from  their  supporting  stocks.  Fat 
cattle  in  the  shade  of  the  great  trees  switched  away  the  teasing  flies 
as  they  lazily  ruminated.  The  crows  were  cawing  and  stealing  from 
their  bursting  shells  the  rich  pecan  nuts,  and  the  black-birds  flew  in 
great  flocks  over  the  fields.  In  the  hickory-woods  the  gray  squirrel 
leaped  from  tree  to  tree,  hunting  for,  and  storing  away  for  winter's 
use,  his  store  of  nuts  and  acorns,  or  running  along  the  rail-fence  to 
find  a  hiding-place  when  frightened  from  his  thieving  in  the  corn- 
fields. The  quail  whistled  for  his  truant  mate  in  the  yellow  stubble, 
and  the  carrion-bird  —  black  and  disgusting  —  wheeled  in  circles, 
lazily,  high  up  in  the  blue  above.  There  was  in  everything  the 
appearance  of  satisfaction ;  abundance  was  everywhere,  and  the  yel- 
lowing of  the  leaves  and  the  smoky  horizon  told  that  the  year  was 
waning  into  winter. 

Under  the  influences  of  the  scene  and  the  season  the  visitor  of  the 
judge  was  sober  and  reflective  as  he  strolled  through  the  woods,  gun 
in  hand,  little  intent  upon  shooting.  The  quail  whirred  away  from 
his  feet ;  the  funny  little  squirrel  leaped  up  the  tree-side  and  peeped 
around  at  him  passing ;  but  he  heeded  not  these,  and  went  forward 
to  find  the  cabin  of  old  Toney.  He  found  the  old  negro  in  his  usual 
seat  at  the  foot  of  his  favorite  tree,  upon  his  well-smoothed  and 
sleek  wooden  stool. 

"  Ha !  ha  !  ha  !  "  laughed  Toney.     "  You  come  dis  time  widout 


304  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

Miss  Alice.  Why  she  not  come  wid  you  ?  You  not  want  somebody 
to  turn  de  squirrel  for  you  ?  May  be  you  bring  de  ole  man  more 
dan  one  dar?" 

"  It  wa*s  too  great  a  walk  for  her,  Uncle  Toney,  and  then  she  does 
not  like  my  company  well  enough  to  pay  so  much  fatigue  for  it." 

Toney  laughed  again.  "  Too  much  walk,  indeed,  she  walk  here 
most  ebery  day,  wid  her  little  bonnet  in  her  hand  and  basket  too, 
wid  someting  good  for  Toney.  When  sun  yonder  and  de  shade 
cobber  de  groun ;  den  she  set  dare,  (pointing  to  the  grass  which  grew 
luxuriantly  near  by)  and  talk  to  de  ole  man  and  lissen  so  still  like  a 
bird  hiding,  when  I  tell  her  all  bout  de  ole  folks,  dat  is  buried  dare, 
and  how  we  all  corned  away  from  de  States  when  de  ole  war  driv  us 
off,  not  General  Jackson's  war.  No,  sir,  General  Washington's  war, 
de  ole  war  of  all  —  and  den,  young  massa,  you  ought  to  see  her. 
She's  mity  putty  den,  she  is — face  red  and  smove,  and  she  little 
tired  and  she  look  so  like  ole  missus  yonder,  when  she  was  a  gall, 
and  dem  English  red  coats  comes  out  from  Charleston,  to  de  ole 
place  to  see  her.  Dat 's  a  long  time  ago,  young  massa." 

"  Uncle  Toney,  how  old  are  you?  " 

"Moss  a  hundred,  young  massa;  I  don't  know  zackly  —  but  I 
great  big  boy  when  I  corned  from  de  ole  country,  tudder  side  ob  de 
sea  —  my  country,  massa.  When  I  corned  to  Charleston,  I  was  so 
high  —  (holding  his  hand  some  four  feet  from  the  earth)  yet  I  was 
big  nuff  to  plow,  when  ole  massa,  de  fadder  of  him  burried  yonder, 
bied  me  and  tuck  me  up  to  de  high  hills  ob  Santee.  Den,  sir,  my 
massa  who  brought  me  here,  was  gone  to  de  country  whar  de  white 
folks  first  corned  from,  England.  I  nebber  see  him  till  de  ole  war, 
when  his  fadder  been  dead  two  year,  den  he  corned  home  one  night 
and  all  de  family  but  one  had  gone  to  de  war.  He  not  talk  much, 
but  look  mity  sorry.  My  ole  missus  was  a  pretty  gall,  den,  live 
close  by  us,  and  it  not  long  afore  dey  gets  married,  and  den  many 
ob  de  nabors  come  and  dey  hab  long  talk.  Dey 's  all  comes  to  de 
greement  to  come  away  from  de  country,  fraid  ob  de  war,  and  all  de 
fadders  ob  all  de  nabors  here  take  all  der  niggers  and  der  stock  and 
go  up  de  country  to  de  riber  dat 's  named  de  Holsten,  and  dare  dey 
built  heep  flat  boats,  and  in  de  spring  dey  starts  down  de  riber. 
Some  ob  de  boats  hab  hogs  on  'em,  some  hosses,  some  cows,  some 
niggers,  some  corn  and  meat,  and  some  de  white  families.  Dar  was 
boff  de  grandfadder  ob  Miss  Alice,  and  her  fadder.  He  was  small, 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


305 


not  grown,  and  old  massa,  her  modder's  fadder,  was  young  wid  young 
wile,  but  dey  all  made  him  captain. 

"  We  was  long  time  comin  down  de  riber,  and  we  hadjto  fite  de 
Injuns  long  time  at  de  place  dey  calls  Mussel  Shoals.  Some  ob  de 
boats  got  on  de  ground,  and  one  on  em  we  had  to  leave  wid  de  hogs 
on  it.  De  bullets  come  from  the  Injuns  so  hot  dat  we  all  had  to  get 
out  into  de  water  and  go  to  anudder  boat  and  get  away  from  dar. 
Dem  was  the  wust  Injuns  I  eber  seed.  But  we  got  away  and  we 
runned  all  night.  Nex  day  Miss  Alice's  fadder  was  on  de  top  ob  de 
boat  ob  his  fadder  when  Injun  shoot  him  in  de  back  from  de  woods, 
and  he  buried  wid  dat  bullet  in  him  up  yonder  to  de  great  house. 
Well,  young  massa,  we  corned  one  day  into  a  big  riber,  and  dar  we 
stopt  one  hole  week,  and  de  massa  and  some  on  de  ress  on  em  got 
out  and  luck  at  de  country,  but  dey  not  like  him  and  we  started 
agin,  and  de  nex  day  we  gits  into  di  Massasippi,  and  in  two  days 
more  we  corned  to  de  place  dey  called  New  Madrid,  and  here  stopt 
agin. 

"  De  land  was  mity  level  and  rich,  and  all  de  men  said  dey 
would  stop  here  and  live.  De  people  what  lived  here  was  Spanish, 
and  some  niggers  and  Injuns,  and  dey  talked  a  lingo  we  did  'nt 
know.  Dere  was  a  nigger  who  could  talk  American,  and  he  corned 
one  night  and  tuck  ole  massa  out  and  telled  him  de  Spaniards  was 
gwine  to  rob  dem  all,  and  dat  dey  would  kill  all  on  de  white  folks, 
and  take  all  de  niggers  and  stock,  and  dey  was  gwine  to  do  it  de  fus 
dark  night.  Dis  larmed  us  all,  and  dat  night  we  slipt  off,  and  when 
mornin  corned  we  was  way  down  de  riber  and  gwine  ahead  I  tell  you. 
We  nebber  stopt  any  more  till  we  got  to  de  mouth  of  Cole's  Creek. 
Dare  de  fadder  of  Miss  Alice's  fadder  stopt,  and  said  he  would  stay 
dare.  Ole  massa  seed  an  Injun  dat  tole  him  ob  dis  place  and  dey 
started  true  de  cane,  dey  was  gone  long  time,  but  when  dey  corned 
back,  ole  massa  got  us  all  ready  and  away  we  went  and  nebber  sto'pt 
till  we  corned  to  the  mouth  of  St.  Catharine's,  right  ober  dar.  Dar 
we  landed  and  unloaded  de  boats,  and  in  a  week  we  was  all  camped 
up  dar  whare  de  big  percan  is,  and  right  dar  de  ole  man  raise  all  his 
family  —  and  dar  he  and  ole  missus  died. 

"  All  dis  country  was  full  ob  deer  and  Injuns,  and  dem  hills  yon- 
der was  all  covered  wid  big  canes  and  de  biggest  trees  you  ebber 
seed.     Yonder,  all  round  dat  mound  we  cleaned  a  field  and  planted 
corn  and  indigo ;  and  ober  yonder  was  another  settlement ;   and 
26*  U 


306  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

yonder,  down  de  creek  was  another;  and  on  de  cliffs  was  another, 
and  den  dare  corned  a  heap  ob  people  and  stopt  at  Natchez  and  St. 
Catharine^,  and  all  us  people  a  most,  young  massa,  about  here  is  come 
ob  dem ;  but  dare  was  trouble  moss  all  de  time  twixt  em. 

"  Ole  massa  was  made  de  Governor,  by  somebody,  and  dare  was 
another  man  made  a  Governor,  too,  and  he  git  a  company  one  night 
and  corned  down  here;  but  somebody  had  tole  old  massa,  and  dat 
day  he  tell  me,  and  we  went  down  to  de  riber  under  de  cliff  war  was 
some  cane  and  he  tole  me  he  was  gwine  to  stay  dar,  and  I  muss  bring 
him  sometin  to  eat  ebery  day,  but  I  mus'nt  tell  whar  he  was,  not 
eben  to  ole  missus,  for  dey  would  scare  her  and  make  her  tell  on 
him.  Shore  nuff,  dat  night  here  dey  corned,  a  many  a  one  on  em, 
and  dey  went  right  into  de  great  house  and  serched  it  and  ebery 
whar,  but  dey  was  fooled  bad,  and  den  dey  tuck  me  and  put  a  rope 
round  my  neck  and  hung  me  to  de  lim  of  a  tree  what  is  dead  and 
gone  now,  right  out  dar.  But  wen  I  was  moss  dead,  dey  let  me 
down  and  axed  me  whar  was  de  Governor.  I  swared  I  did  'nt  know, 
and  dey  pulled  me  up  agin  ;  and  dis  time  dey  thought  dey  had 
killed  me,  shore  nuff.  It  was  a  long  time  before  I  corned  to,  and 
den  I  tole  um  I  could  show  um  whare  he  was,  and  we  started. 

"De  cane  was  mity  thick,  and  we  went  up  one  hill  and  down 
another  till  we  corned  to  dat  big  hill  ober  de  creek  dar.  De  todder 
side  ob  it  is  mity  steep,  but  de  cane  was  all  de  way  down  it.  I 
was  a  good  ways  before  em  and  I  jumpt  down  de  steepest  place  and 
way  I  went  through  de  cane  down  de  hill,  and  de  way  dey  made  de 
bullets  whistle  was  euros.  But  I  got  away  and  went  round  and  told 
de  ole  man  all  dey  had  done.  When  I  went  back  all  de  black  peo- 
ple was  gone  and  missus  said  dese  men  had  tuck  em  off.  De  nex 
nite  dey  cotch  me  and  carried  me  to  whar  our  black  folks  was,  and 
den  we  all  started  in  a  boat  down  de  riber,  and  when  we  got  to  New 
Orleans  we  got  on  a  skiff  and  run  down  de  riber  to  a  big  ship  and 
went  out  to  sea  dat  night  and  landed  at  Pensacola,  and  dare  dat 
wicked  ole  man  sold  us  to  de  Spanish." 

"  Uncle  Toney,  who  was  that  wicked  old  man?  " 

"Ah!  my  young  massa,  I  musn't  tell,  cause  his  grandchillen  is 
great  folks  here  now,  and  Miss  Alice  telled  me  I  musn't  tell  all  I 
knows.  Dey  aint  sponsible,  she  says,  for  what  dere  grandfadder  did. 
But  I  tell  you  he  was  a  mity  bad  man.  Well,  I  staid  at  Pensacola 
two  years  wid  my  ole  oman ;  and  we  could  talk  wid  de  Injuns,  and 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


307 


one  day  two  Injuns  dat  I  knowd  out  here  comed  to  my  cabin,  and 
dey  telled  me  dat  ole  massa  was  gone  way  from  here  and  missus  was 
here  by  herself  and  had  nobody  to  help  her.  So  I  makes  a  bargain 
wid  dese  Injuns  to  come  here  wid  me  and  my  old  oman.  One  Sat- 
urday night  we  started  to  go  and  see  some  obvour  people  dat  was 
bout  ten  miles  from  whar  we  was ;  but  we  neber  stopped.  We  tuck 
to  de  woods,  and  we  killed  a  deer  wheneber  we  was  hungry.  De 
Injuns,  you  know,  can  always  do  dat.  We  was  a  mity  long  time 
comin  ;  but  at  last  we  got  here,  and  den  it  was  moss  a  year  arter  dat 
before  ole  massa  come.  Den  dar  was  more  trouble.  One  day  dar 
comed  fifty  men  and  tuck  ole  massa,  and  dey  tied  him  and  den  begin 
to  rob  de  house.  Dey  had  all  de  silver  and  sich  like,  when  de  cap- 
tain comed  in,  and  he  did  cuss  mity  hard  and  made  em  put  it  every 
bit  down,  and  march  out.  Ole  missus  she  thanked  him  mitily ;  but 
dey  carried  ole  massa  off  to  New  Orleans. 

"  Dar  was  great  trouble  wid  de  nabors.  Dey  comed  and  talked 
bout  it ;  and  one  day  when  ole  massa  was  gone  bout  a  mont,  when 
dey  was  all  dar,  who  should  step  into  de  house  but  ole  massa.  He 

was  fash,  I  tell  you  he  was.  Dar  was  old  Mr.  E ,  and  Mr. 

O ,  and  Mr.  T ,  and  a  heap  more,  and  dey  all  put  der  heads 

togeder  and  talked.  One  day  ole  massa  come  to  me  and  sez  he : 
'  Toney,  you  mus  get  on  my  black  hoss  and  go  down  to  de  bluffs. 
Watch  down  de  riber,  and  when  you  see  two  big  boats  comin  up  — 
big  keel-boats  wid  plenty  ob  men  on  em  —  way  down  de  riber,  jes 
come  as  hard  as  de  hoss  can  bring  you  here  and  let  me  know  it.' 

"I  knowd  dar  was  trouble  comin,  young  massa;  for  I  seed  Miss 
Alice's  papa  comin  wid  plenty  ob  de  nabors  wid  him.  He  was  a  tall 
man,  and  neber  talk  much.  Miss  Alice's  modder  was  a  young  oman 
den,  and  I  knowd  dey  was  gwine  to  be  married.  When  she  seed 
him  wid  his  gun  and  so  many  men  she  gins  to  cry.  Well,  I  was 
gone  quick,  and  moss  as  soon  as  I  got  to  de  cliff,  I  see  de  boats  way 
down  de  riber,  pulling  long  by  de  shore.  I  made  dat  hoss  do  his 
best  home,  when  I  told  old  massa :  '  Dey 's  comin,  sir ! '  He  sorter 
grin,  and  git  on  his  hoss  and  gallop  away  down  toward  St.  Catha- 
rine's. He  telled  me  to  come  on,  and  I  comed.  When  we  got  to 
de  mouth  ob  de  creek  dar  was  fifty  men  dar,  all  wid  der  guns,  settin 
on  de  ground,  and  ole  massa  talkin  to  em.  Way  moss  night  de 
boats  comed  in  sight.  Den  all  de  men  hide  in  de  cane,  and  massa 
tell  me :  '  Toney,  you  call  em  and  tell  em  to  come  to  de  shore.'  I 


308  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

called  em,  and  dey  corned  and  tied  der  boats  to  de  trees,  and  de 
captain  and  some  ob  de  men  jumped  on  de  land,  and  walked  out, 
and  corned  close  to  me. 

"  De  fuss  ting  dey  knowd,  bang  !  bang  !  bang  !  go  de  guns,  and  de 
captain  fall.  De  men  all  run  for  de  boats,  and  de  men  on  de  boats 
gin  to  shoot  too.  I  runs  wid  all  my  might,  and  ole  massa  shout  to 
his  friends  to  fire  agin,  and  two  men  untying  de  boats  fall.  Den  dey 
cut  de  ropes  wid  an  axe,  and  shove  out  de  boats  into  de  riber,  and 
pull  em  away  wid  de  oars  too  far  to  hit  em.  Ole  massa  comes  out 
ob  de  cane  and  goes  to  de  men  what  is  lying  on  the  ground.  Dar 
was  six  on  em,  and  four  was  dead  sure  miff.  Two  was  jus  wounded, 
and  one  of  dese  was  de  captain.  Him  de  same  man  what  make  his 
men  put  down  de  silber  and  tings  dey  was  takin  from  ole  missus. 
Den  dey  carry  all  on  em  to  de  grate  house  and  bury  de  dead  ones. 
De  captain  and  de  oder  wounded  man  was  tuck  into  de  house,  and 
ole  missus  she  knowd  de  captain,  and  she  cried  mitily  bout  his  bein 
shot.  Well,  he  talk  plenty  bout  his  wife  and  modder,  and  Miss 
Alice's  modder  nurse  him  ;  but  he  died,  and  his  grave  's  yonder  wid 
ole  massa  and  missus.  De  oder  man  he  got  well  and  went  away, 
and  berry  soon  arter  dat  Miss  Alice's  fadder  and  modder  got  married. 
Dar  come  de  judge.  He  hab  seen  you,  and  he  ride  out  ob  de  road 
to  come  see  you." 

"  Toney,  I  shall  come  to  see  you  again,  and  you  must  tell  me  more 
about  the  family  and  these  people  about  here;  you  must  tell  me 
everything. ' ' 

"You  musn't  tell  anybody  I  tell  you  anyting.  De  judge  mity  quare 
man$  he  don't  like  for  people  to  know  all  I  knows." 

The  judge  rode  up,  and  Toney  with  great  respect  arose  and  saluted 
him.  "Ah  !  "  said  he,  "  you  have  found  this  old  hermit,  have  you? 
Toney  is  the  chronicle  of  the  neighborhood  —  a  record  of  its  history 
from  the  day  of  its  first  settlement.  I  hope  he  has  amused  you. 
He  is  upwards  of  ninety  years  old,  and  retains  all  his  faculties  in  a 
remarkable  degree." 

"  I  have  been  quite  entertained  with  his  history  of  the  descent  of 
the  river  with  your  ancestors.  He  seems  to  remember  every  inci- 
dent, and  says  your  father  was  wounded  at  the  Muscle  Shoals  on  the 
Tennessee  River." 

"  He  is  quite  right,  sir.  It  was  a  perilous  trip.  My  grandfather 
was  a  man  of  wonderful  energy  and  determination.  He  pioneered 


FIFTY     YEARS.  309 

the  ancestors  of  almost  every  family  in  this  vicinage  to  this  place. 
There  was  a  large  grant  of  land  from  the  Spanish  Government  made 
here  and  divided  among  his  followers,  every  foot  of  which  is  in  the 
possession  of  their  descendants  to-day,  except  perhaps  one  thousand 
acres  which  were  swindled  from  my  family  by  a  most  iniquitous 
decision  of  a  jury,  influenced  by  an  artful  old  Yankee  lawyer.  This 
spot  here,  sir,  was  the  nucleus  of  the  first  settlement  which  in  a  few 
years  spread  over  the  country." 

"  This  county  I  believe,  sir,  was  once  represented  in  the  State  of 
Georgia  as  the  County  of  Bourbon,  at  the  time  this  State  with  Ala- 
bama constituted  a  part  of  that  State." 

"  My  father  was  elected  to  represent  the  county,  but  he  never  took 
his  seat.  We  continued  to  be  governed  by  the  laws  of  Spain  which 
we  found  in  force  here  until  the  line  between  Florida  and  the  United 
States  was  established  —  indeed  until  the  American  Government 
extended  its  jurisdiction  in  the  form  of  a  territorial  government 
over  the  country.  I  am  riding  to  my  sisters.  You  will  have  fine 
shooting  if  you  will  go  through  yonder  piece  of  woods.  Every  tree 
seems  to  have  a  squirrel  upon  it.  We  will  meet  again  at  tea.  Adieu, 
till  then." 

"  He  been  watchin  you.     Better  go,  young  massa." 

"You  don't  appear,  Toney,  to  like  your  young  master." 

"  Him  not  good  to  Miss  Alice.  He  got  plenty  sisters ;  but  he  only 
lub  two,  and  dey  don't  lub  anybody  but  just  him.  Him  not  like 
his  fadder  nor  ole  massa  yonder.  He  bring  plenty  trouble  to  massa 
and  to  his  modder.  No,  me  don't  like  him.  ^liss  Alice  know 
him  all." 

"  Well,  Toney,  no  one  shall  ever  know  you  have  told  me  anything. 
Some  of  these  days  I  will  come  and  see  you  again.  Good  by." 

"God  bress  you,  young  massa!  Kill  ole  nigger  some  squirrels. 
Tell  Miss  Alice  dey  is  for  me,  and  she  will  make  some  on  de  little 
ones  run  down  here  wid  em.  Good  by,  massa." 

Slowly  the  young  man  wended  his  way  to  the  mansion ;  but  remem- 
bering the  negro's  request,  he  shot  several  squirrels,  and  gave  them 
as  requested. 

"  Then  you  have  been  to  see  Uncle  Toney.  Did  he  give  you  any 
of  his  stories?  Like  all  old  persons,  he  loves  to  talk  about  his 
younger  days." 

"  I  was  quite  interested  in  his  narrative  of  the  trip  down  the  river, 


310  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

when  your  grandparents  and  your  father  emigrated  to  this  part  of  the 
country." 

"  Did  he  tell  you  his  Indian  ghost  story?" 

"  He  did  not.  He  was  quite  communicative ;  but  your  brother 
came  and  arrested  his  conversation."  A  shade  fell  upon  the  features 
of  the  beautiful  creature  as  she  turned  away  to  send  the  squirrels  to 
Toney. 

"  These  are  beautiful  grounds,  Miss  Ann." 

"  Yes,  sir ;  there  has  been  great  care  bestowed  upon  them,  and 
they  make  a  fairy-land  for  my  cousin  who  in  fair  weather  is  almost 
always  found  here  in  these  walks  and  shady  retreats  afforded  by  these 
old  oaks  and  pecans." 

''There  is  something  very  beautiful,  miss,  in  the  attachment  of 
Miss  Alice  to  Uncle  Toney.  The  devotion  to  her  on  his  part  almost 
amounts  to  adoration." 

"  My  aunt,  the  mother  of  Alice,  taught  her  this  attachment.  There 
is  a  little  history  connected  with  it,  and  indeed,  sir,  all  the  family 
remember  his  services  to  our  grandfather  in  a  most  perilous  moment ; 
but  you  must  ask  its  narration  from  the  old  man.  He  loves  to  tell  it. 
My  cousin's  memory  of  her  mother  is  the  cherished  of  her  heart. 
Indeed,  sir,  that  is  a  strong,  deep  heart.  You  may  never  know  it ; 
but  should  you,  you  will  remember  that  I  told  you  there  was  but  one 
Alice.  In  all  her  feelings  she  is  intense ;  her  love  is  a  flame —  her  hate 
a  thorn  ;  the  fragrance  of  the  one  is  an  incense  —  the  piercing  of  the 
other  is  deep  and  agonizing.  Shan't  we  go  in,  sir ;  I  see  the  damp 
of  the  dew  is  on  your  boot-toe,  and  you  have  been  ill.  The  absence 
of  the  sun  is  the  hour  for  pestilence  to  ride  the  breeze  in  our  climate, 
and  you  cannot  claim  to  be  fully  acclimated." 

The  autumn  progressed,  and  the  rich  harvests  were  being  gathered 
and  garnered.  This  season  is  the  longest  and  the  loveliest  of  the  year 
in  this  beautiful  country.  During  the  months  of  September,  Octo- 
ber, and  November,  there  ordinarily  falls  very  little  rain,  and  the  tem- 
perature is  but  slightly  different.  The  evolutions  of  nature  are  slow 
and  beneficent,  and  it  seems  to  be  a  period  especially  disposed  so 
that  the  husbandman  should  reap  in  security  the  fruits  of  the  year's 
labor.  The  days  lag  lazily;  the  atmosphere  is  serene,  and  the  ceru- 
lean, without  a  cloud,  is  deeply  blue.  The  foliage  of  the  forest-trees, 
so  gorgeous  and  abundant,  gradually  loses  the  intense  green  of  sum- 
mer, fading  and  yellowing  so  slowly  as  scarely  to  be  perceptible, 


FIFTYYEARS.  3!! 

and  by  such  attenuated  degrees  accustoming  the  eye  to  the  change, 
that  none  of  the  surprise  or  unpleasantness  of  sudden  change  is  seen 
or  experienced. 

The  fields  grow  golden ;  the  redly-tinged  leaves  of  the  cotton-plant 
contrast  with  the  chaste  pure  white  of  the  lint  in  the  bursting  pods, 
now  so  abundantly  yielding  their  wealth;  the  red  ripe  berries  all 
over  the  woods,  and  the  busy  squirrels  gathering  and  hoarding  these 
and  the  richer  forest-nuts ;  the  cawing  of  the  crows  as  they  forage 
upon  the  ungathered  corn,  feeding  and  watching  with  the  conscious- 
ness of  thieves,  and  the  fat  cattle  ruminating  in  the  shade,  make  up 
a  scene  of  beauty  and  loveliness  not  met  with  in  a  less  fervid  clime. 
The  entranced  rapture  which  filled  my  soul  when  first  I  looked  upon 
this  scene  comes  over  me  now  with  a  freshness  that  brings  back  the 
delights  of  that  day  with  all  its  cherished  memories,  though  fifty 
years  have  gone  and  their  sorrows  have  crushed  out  all  but  hope  from 
the  heart  —  and  all  the  pleasures  of  the  present  are  these  memories 
kindly  clustering  about  the  soul.  Perhaps  their  delights,  and  those 
who  shared  them,  will  revive  in  eternity.  Perhaps  not ;  perhaps  all 
alike  —  the  pleasant  and  the  painful — are  to  be  lost  in  an  eternal, 
oblivious  sleep.  It  is  all  speculation  ;  yet  hope  and  doubt  go  on  to 
the  grave,  and  thence  none  return  to  cheer  the  one  or  elucidate  the 
other.  But  be  it  eternal  life  or  eternal  death,  it  is  wise ;  for  it  is  of  God. 

The  autumn  grew  old  and  was  threatening  a  frost  —  the  great 
enemy  of  fever.  The  falling  leaves  and  the  fitful  gusts  of  chill  wind 
presaged  the  coming  of  winter.  The  ear  caught  the  ring  of  sounds 
more  distant  and  more  distinct  now  that  the  languor  of  summer  was 
gone,  and  all  animal  nature  seemed  more  invigorated  and  more  elas- 
tic. Health  and  her  inhabitants  were  returning  to  the  city,  and  the 
guests  of  the  hospitable  planters  were  thinning  from  the  country. 
Business  was  reviving  and  commotion  was  everywhere. 

The  young  stranger  was  preparing  to  leave ;  yet  he  lingered.  Ann 
had  gone  ;  Alice  grew  more  shy  and  timid,  and  his  walks  and  rides 
were  solitary,  and  but  that  he  loved  nature  in  her  autumn  robes 
would  have  been  dull  and  uninteresting.  The  judge  was  absent  at 
another  plantation  beyond  the  river,  and  his  books  and  his  gun  were 
his  only  companions.  Sometimes  he  read,  sometimes  he  rode,  and 
sometimes  he  walked  to  visit  Toney.  It  was  on  one  of  those  pecu- 
liarly lonely  afternoons  which  come  in  the  last  days  of  October  when 
the  stillness  persuades'to  rest  and  meditation  in  the  woods  that,  seated 


312  THE     MEMORIES     OF. 

on  a  prostrate  tree  near  the  pathway  which  led  down  the  little  creek 
to  the  residence  of  Uncle  Toney,  the  young  guest  of  the  judge  was 
surprised  by  Alice  with  a  small  negro  girl  on  their  way  to  visit  Uncle 
Toney.  Both  started  ;  but  in  a  moment  were  reassured,  and  slowly 
walked  to  the  cabin  of  the  good  old  negro. 

"  I  have  come,  Uncle  Toney,"  said  the  youth,  "  to  see  you  for 
the  last  time.  I  am  going  away  to-morrow  and,  as  soon  as  I  can, 
going  back  to  the  distant  home  I  so  foolishly  left." 

"  I  am  sorry  you  tell  me  so;  won't  you  be  sorry,  Miss  Alice?" 
asked  Toney.  Alice  bit  her  lip,  and  the  flush  upon  her  cheek  was 
less  ruddy  than  usual. 

"You  no  find  dis  country  good  like  yourn,  young  massa?  " 

"Yes,  Toney,  this  is  a  good  country,  and  there  is  no  country  more 
beautiful.  But,  uncle,  it  requires  more  than  a  beautiful  country  to 
make  us  happy ;  we  must  have  with  us  those  we  love,  and  who  love 
us;  and  the  scenes  of  our  childhood — our  fathers  and  mothers, 
and  brothers  and  sisters  who  are  glad  with  us  and  who  sorrow  with 
us,  and  the  companions  of  our  school-days,  to  make  us  happy.  I  am 
here  without  any  of  these  —  not  a  relation  within  a  thousand  miles  ; 
with  no  one  to  care  for  me  or  to  love  me."  There  was  something 
plaintively  melancholly  in  his  words  and  tones.  He  looked  at  Alice, 
her  eyes  were  swimming  in  tears  and  she  turned  away  from  his  gaze. 

"You  been  mity  sick,  here,  young  massa,  didn't  Miss  Alice  be 
good  to  you?  Aunt  Ann  tell  me  so.  If  Miss  Alice  had  not  nuss 
you,  you  die."  Alice  stepped  into  the  cabin  taking  with  her  the 
basket  the  little  negro  had  borne,  and  placing  its  contents  away, 
came  out  and  handing  it  to  Rose,  bid  her  run  home.  "  I  am  com- 
ing," she  said  as  she  adjusted  her  bonnet  -  strings,  "the  bugaboos 
won't  catch  you." 

"  Yes,  Uncle  Toney,  I  am  very  grateful  to  Miss  Alice.  I  shall 
never  forget  her." 

How  often  that  word  is  thoughtlessly  spoken  ?  Never  to  forget,  is  a 
long  time  to  remember.  Our  lives  are  a  constant  change  :  the  present 
drives  out  the  past,  and  one  memory  usurps  the  place  of  another. 
Yet  there  are  some  memories  which  are  always  green.  These  fasten 
themselves  upon  us  in  agony.  The  pleasant  are  evanescent  and  pass 
away  as  a  smile,  but  the  bitter  live  in  sighs,  recurring  eternally. 

Both  were  silent,  both  were  thoughtful.  "Good -by,  Uncle 
Toney,"  said  Alice. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  313 

"  May  I  join  you  in  your  walk  home,  miss?  "  There  was  some- 
thing in  the  tone  of  this  request,  which  caused  Alice  to  look  up  into 
his  face  and  pause  a  moment  before  replying,  when  she  said,  very 
timidly,  "  If  you  please,  sir." 

The  sun  was  drooping  to  the  horizon  and  the  shadows  made  giants 
as  thy  grew  along  the  sward.  "  Farewell,  Uncle  Toney,"  said  the 
gentleman,  shaking  hands  with  the  old  negro.  Alice  had  walked  on. 

"  O  !  you  need  'nt  say  farewell  so  sorry,  you'll  come  back.  I 
sees  him.  You  '11  come  back.  Eberybody  who  comes  to  dis  country 
if  he  does  go  way  he  's  sure  to  come  back,  ticlar  when  he  once  find 
putty  gall  like  Miss  Alice,  ya !  ya! "  laughed  the  old  man.  "You  '11 
come  back.  I  knows  it." 

In  a  few  moments  he  was  by  the  side  of  Alice.  They  lounged 
lazily  along  through  the  beautiful  forest  a  few  paces  behind  Rose, 
who  was  too  much  afraid  of  bugaboos  to  allow  herself  to  get  far 
away  from  her  mistress.  There  was  a  chill  in  the  atmosphere  and 
now  and  then  a  fitful  gust  of  icy  wind  from  the  northwest.  Winter  was 
coming:  these  avant-couriers  whispered  of  it;  and  overhead,  swooped 
high  up  in  the  blue,  a  host  of  whooping  cranes,  marching  in  chase  of 
the  sun  now  cheering  the  Antarctic  just  waking  from  his  winter's  slee*p. 

"I  believe,  sir,"  said  Alice,  "that  the  ancients  watched  the  flight 
of  birds  and  predicated  their  predictions  or  prophecies  upon  them." 

"  Yes,  the  untutored  of  every  age  and  country  observe  more 
closely  the  operations  of  nature  than  the  educated.  It  is  their  only 
means  of  learning.  They  see  certain  movements  in  the  beasts  and 
the  birds  before  certain  atmospheric  changes,  and  their  superstitions 
influence  a  belief,  that  sentient  andf  invisible  beings  cause  this  by 
communicating  the  changes  going  on.  The  more  sagacious  and 
observant,  and  I  may  add  the  less  scrupulous,  lay  hold  upon  this 
knowledge,  to  practice  for  their  own  pleasure  or  profit  upon  the 
credulity  of  the  masses.  There  are  very  many  superstitions,  miss, 
which  are  endowed  with  a  character  so  holy,  that  he  who  would 
expose  them  is  hunted  down  as  a  wretch,  unworthy  of  life.  The 
older  and  the  more  ridiculous  these,  the  more  holy,  and  the  more 
sacredly  cherished." 

"  Are  you  not  afraid  thus  to  speak  —  is  there  nothing  too  holy  to 
be  profanely  assaulted?  " 

"  Nothing  which  contravenes  man's  reason.     Truth  courts  investi- 
gation—  the  more  disrobed,  the  more  beautiful.    Science  reveals,  that 
27 


314  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

there  is  no  mystery  in  truth.  Its  simplicity  is  often  disfigured  with 
unnatural  and  ridiculous  superstitions,  and  these  sometimes  are  so 
prominent  as  to  conceal  it.  They  certainly,  with  many,  bring  it  into 
disrepute.  The  more  intellectual  pluck  these  off  and  cast  them  away. 
They  see  and  know  the  truth.  Yonder  birds  obey  an  instinct :  the 
chill  to  their  more  sensitive  natures  warns  them  that  the  winter,  or  the 
tempest,  or  the  rain-storm  is  upon  them ;  they  obey  this  instinct  and 
fly  from  it.  Yet  it  in  due  time  follows  these  —  the  more  observant 
know  it,  and  predict  it.  Those,  with  the  ancients,  were  sooth-sayers 
or  prophets ;  with  us,  they  are  the  same  with  the  ignorant  negroes  ; 
with  the  whites,  not  quite  so  ignorant,  they  are  —  but,  mlS,  I  will 
not  say.  I  must  exercise  a  little  prudence  to  avoid  the  wrath  of  the 
ignorant  —  they  are  multitudinous  and  very  powerful." 

"  Kind  sir,  tell  me,  have  you  no  superstitions  ?  Has  nothing  ever 
occurred  to  you,  your  reason  could  not  account  for  ?  Have  no  pre- 
dictions, to  be  revealed  in  the  coming  future,  come  to  you  as 
foretold?" 

"Do  not  press  me  on  that  point,  if  you  please,  I  might  astonish 
and  offend  you." 

»"  I  am  not  in  the  least  afraid  of  your  offending  me,  sir.  I  could 
not  look  in  your  face  and  feel  its  inspirations,  and  believe  you  capa- 
ble of  offending  me." 

"  Thank  you  for  the  generous  confidence,  thank  you.  I  am  going 
and  shall  remember  this  so  long  as  I  live,  and  when  in  my  native 
land,  will  think  of  it  as  too  sacred  for  the  keeping  of  any  but  myself." 

"Are  you  really  going  to  leave  us,  and  so  soon?  I  —  I — would 
— but  —  " 

"Miss  Alice,  I  have  trespassed  too  long  already  upon  your  bro- 
ther's hospitality ;  beside,  Miss  Alice,  I  begin  to  feel  that  his  wel- 
come is  worn  out.  Your  brother,  for  some  days,  has  seemed  less 
cordial  than  was  his  wont  during  the  first  weeks  of  my  stay  here." 

"My  brother,  sir,  is  a  strange  being  —  a  creature  of  wTiims  and 
caprices.  There  is  nothing  fixed  or  settled  in  his  opinions  or  conduct. 
His  jnviting  you  to  spend  the  summer  with  us  was  a  whim :  one  that 
has  astonished  several  who  have  not  hesitated  to  express  it.  It  is  as 
likely  on  his  return  from  his  river  place,  that  he  will  devour  you  with 
kindness  as  that  he  will  meet  you  with  the  coldness  he  has  mani- 
fested for  some  days.  Do  not  let  your  conduct  be  influenced  by  his 
whims." 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


315 


"  Miss  Alice,  I  am  suspicious,  perhaps,  by  nature.  I  have  thought 
that  you  have  avoided  me  lately.  I  have  been  very  lonesome  at 
times." 

Alice  lifted  her  bonnet  from  her  head,  and  was  swinging  it  by  the 
strings  as  she  walked  along  for  a  few  steps,  when  she  stopped,  and, 
turning  to  her  companion,  said  with  a  firm  though  timid  voice :  "  I 
cannot  be  deceitful.  You  have  properly  guessed :  I  have  avoided 
you.  It  was  on  your  account  as  well  as  my  own.  My  self-respect 
is  in  conflict  with  my  respect  for  you.  I  need  not  tell  you  why  I 
avoided  you;  but  I  will  —  conscious  that  I  am  speaking  to  a  gentle- 
man who  will  appreciate  my  motives  and  preserve  inviolate  my  com- 
munications. You  saw  my  cousin  hurry  away  from  here.  She  came 
to  remain  some  weeks.  The  cause  of  her  going  was  my  brother. 
From  some  strange,  unaccountable  cause  he  became  offended  with 
her,  and  charged  her  with  giving  bad  advice  to  me.  What  she  has 
said  to  me  as  advice  since  she  came  was  in  the  privacy  of  my  bed- 
room, and  in  such  tones  that  had  he  or  another  been  in  the  chamber 
they  could  not  have  overheard  it.  I  know,  sir,  and  in  shame  do  I 
speak  it,  that  I  am  under  the  surveillance  of  the  servants,  who  report 
to  my  brother  and  my  sister  my  every  act  and  every  word ;  and  I 
know,  too,  my  brother's  imagination  supplies  in  many  instances 
these  reports.  Why  I  am  thus  watched  I  know  not. 

"  My  brother  is  my  guardian,  and  nature  and  duty,  it  would  seem, 
should  prompt  him  to  guard  my  happiness'  as  well  as  my  interest ; 
but  I  know  in  the  one  instance  he  fails,  and  I  fear  in  the  other  I  am 
suffering.  All  my  family  fear  him,  and  none  of  them  love  me.  I 
am  my  parents'  youngest  child.  Oh,  sir !  England  is  not  the  only 
country  where  it  is  a  curse  to  be  a  younger  child.  My  father  died 
when  I  was  an  infant.  My  mother  was  affectionate  and  indulgent ; 
my  sisters  were  harsh  and  tyrannical,  and  in  very  early  girlhood 
taught  me  to  hate  them.  My  mother  was  made  miserable  by  their 
treatment  of  me  ;  and  my  brother,  too,  quarrelled  with  her  because 
she  would  not  subject  me  to  the  servility  of  the  discipline  he  pre- 
scribed. This  quarrel  ripened  into  hate,  and  he  never  came  to  the 
house  or  spoke  to  my  mother  for  years. 

"  The  day  before  she  died,  and  when  her  recovery  was  thought  to 
be  impossible,  he  came  with  a  prepared  will  and  witnesses,  which  in 
their  presence  he  almost  forced  her  to  sign:  in  this  will  I  was 
greatly  wronged,  and  this  brother  has  tauntingly  told  me  the  cause 


316  THE     MEMORIES     OP 

of  this  was  my  being  the  means  of  prejudicing  our  mother  against 
him. 

"  He  married  a  coarse,  vulgar  Kentucky  woman,  and  brought 
her  into  the  house.  She  was  insolent  and  disrespectful  toward  my 
mother,  and  I  resented  it.  She  left  the  house,  and  died  a  few  months 
after.  Since  that  day,  though  I  was  almost  a  child,  my  life  has  been 
one  of  constant  persecution  on  the  part  of  my  brother  and  sisters. 
I  am  compelled  to  endure  it,  but  do  so  under  protest;  if  not  in  words, 
I  do  in  manner,  and  this  I  am  persuaded  you  have  on  more  than 
one  occasion  observed.  Please  do  not  consider  me  impertinent,  nor 
let  it  influence  you  in  your  opinion  of  me,  when  I  tell  you  my 
brother  has  rudely  said  to  me  that  I  was  too  forward  in  my  inter- 
course with  you.  It  is  humiliating  to  say  this  to  you;  but  I  must,  for 
it  explains  my  conduct,  which  save  in  this  regard  has  been  motiveless. 

"A  lady  born  to  the  inheritance  of  fortune  is  very  unpleasantly 
situated,  both  toward  her  family  and  to  the  world.  These  seem 
solicitous  to  take  greater  interest  in  her  pecuniary  affairs  than  in  her 
personal  happiness,  and  are  always  careful  to  warn  her  that  her  money 
is  more  sought  than  herself — distracting  her  mind  and  feelings,  and 
keeping  her  constantly  miserable.  Since  my  school-days  I  have  been 
companionless.  If  I  have  gone  into  society,  I  have  been  under  the 
guard  of  one  or  the  other  of  my  sisters.  These  are  cold,  austere, 
and  repulsive,  and  especially  toward  those  who  would  most  likely  seek 
my  society,  and  with  whom  I  would  most  naturally  be  pleased.  I  must 
be  retired,  cold,  and  never  to  seem  pleased,  but  always  remarkably 
silent  and  dignified.  I  must  be  a  goddess  to  be  worshipped,  and  not 
an  equal  to  be  approached  and  my  society  courted  companionably. 
In  fine,  I  was  to  be  miserable,  and  make  all  who  came  to  me  partici- 
pate in  this  misery.  It  was  more  agreeable  to  remain  at  home  among 
my  flowers  and  shrubs,  ray  books,  and  my  visits  to  Uncle  Toney. 
Do  you  wonder,  sir,  that  I  seem  eccentric  ?  You  know  how  the 
young  love  companionship  —  how  they  crave  the  amusements  which 
lend  zest  to  life.  I  enjoy  none  of  this,  and  I  am  sometimes,  I 
believe,  nearly  crazy.  I  fear  you  think  me  so,  now.  I  want  to  love 
my  brother,  but  he  will  not  permit  me  to  do  so.  I  fear  he  has  a 
nature  so  unlovable  that  such  a  feeling  toward  him  animates  no  heart. 
My  sisters  and  a  drunken  sot  of  a  brother-in-law  pretend  to  love  him 
— but  they  measure  their  affection  by  the  hope  of  gain.  They  reside 
in  Louisiana,  and  I  am  glad  they  are  not  here  during  your  stay — for 


FIFTY    YEARS. 


317 


you  would  certainly  be  insulted,  especially  if  they  saw  the  slightest 
evidence  of  esteem  for  you  on  brother's  part,  or  kindness  on  mine." 

"  Oh !  sir,  how  true  is  the  Scripture, « Out  of  the  fulness  of  the  heart 
the  mouth  speaketh.'  Out  of  my  heart's  fulness  have  I  spoken,  and, 
I  fear  you  will  think,  out  of  my  heart's  folly,  too ;  and  in  my  heart's 
sincerity  I  tell  you  I  do  not  know  why  I  have  done  so  to  you  — 
for  I  have  never  said  anything  of  these  things  to  any  one  but  cousin 
Ann,  before.  Perhaps  it  is  because  I  know  you  are  going  away  and 
you  will  not  come  to  rebuke  me  with  your  presence  any  more ;  for 
indeed,  sir,  I  do  not  know  how  I  could  meet  you  and  not  blush  at 
the  memory  of  this  evening's  walk." 

"  Miss  Alice,  I  have  a  memory,  or  it  may  be  a  fancy,  that  in  the 
delirium  of  my  fever,  some  weeks  since,  I  saw  you  like  a  spirit  of 
light  flitting  about  my  bed  and  ministering  to  my  wants ;  and  I  am 
sure,  when  all  supposed  me  in  extremis,  you  came,  and  on  my  brow 
placed  your  soft  hand,  and  pressed  it  gently  above  my  burning  brain. 
My  every  nerve  thrilled  beneath  that  touch ;  my  dead  extremities 
trembled  and  were  alive  again.  The  brain  resumed  her  functions,  and 
the  nervous  fluid  flashed  through  my  entire  system,  and  departing  life 
came  back  again.  You  saved  my  life.  Were  the  records  of  time  and 
events  opened  to  my  inspection  and  I  could  read  it  there,  I  could  not 
more  believe  this  than  I  now  do.  Then  what  is  due  from  me  to  you  ? 
This  new  evidence  of  confidence  adds  nothing  to  the  obligation — it 
was  full  without  it.  But  it  is  an  inspiration  I  had  not  before.  We  are 
here,  Miss  Alice,  within  a  few  steps  of  the  threshold  of  the  house  in 
which  you  were  born.  I  am  far  from  the  land  of  my  nativity  —  our 
meeting  was  strange,  and  this  second  meeting  not  the  less  so." 

"  Ah!  you  have  almost  confessed  that  you  are  superstitious.  You 
need  not  have  acknowledged  that  you  are  romantic  ;  your  young  life 
has  proven  this." 

"  Stay,  Miss  Alice:  you  asked  me  but  now  if  there  had  never  been 
the  realization  of  previous  predictions.  You  said  you  knew  I  would 
not  offend  you.  I  would  not,  but  may.  Now  listen  to  me,  here  under 
the  shade  of  this  old  oak.  When  I  was  a  child,  my  nurse  was  an 
aged  African  woman ;  like  all  her  race,  she  was  full  of  superstition, 
and  she  would  converse  with  me  of  mysteries,  and  spells,  and  won- 
derful revelations,  until  my  mind  was  filled  as  her  own  with  strange 
superstitions  and  presentiments.  On  one  occasion,  on  the  Sabbath 
day,  I  found  her  in  the  orchard,  seated  beneath  a  great  pear-tree,  and 
27* 


318  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

went  to  her  —  for  though  I  was  no  longer  her  ward  to  nurse,  I  liked 
to  be  with  her  and  hear  her  talk.  It  was  a  beautiful  day,  the  fruit- 
trees  were  in  bloom,  and  the  spring -feeling  in  the  sunshine  was 
kindling  life  into  activity  through  all  nature.  She  asked  me  to  let 
her  see  my  hand  and  she  would  tell  me  my  fortune.  She  pretended 
sagely  to  view  every  line,  and  here  and  there  to  press  her  index 
finger  sharply  down.  At  length  she  began  to  speak. 

"  'You  will  not  stay  with  your  people,'  she  said,  'but  will  be  a 
great  traveller;  and  when  in  some  far-away  country,  you  will  be  sick 
— mighty  sick ;  and  a  beautiful  woman  will  find  you,  and  she  will  nurse 
you,  and  you  will  love  that  beautiful  woman,  and  she  will  love  you, 
and  she  will  marry  you,  and  you  will  not  come  to  reside  with  your 
people  any  more.'  Now,  Miss  Alice,  I  have  wandered  far  away  from 
my  home,  have  been  sick,  very  sick,  and  a  beautiful  woman  has 
nursed  me  until  I  am  well,  and  oh  !  from  my  heart  I  do  love  that 
beautiful  woman.  So  far  all  of  this  wild  prediction  has  been  veri- 
fied ;  and  it  remains  with  you,  my  dear  Alice,  to  say  if  the  latter  por- 
tion shall  be.  You  are  too  candid  to  delay  reply,  and  too  sincere  to 
speak  equivocally." 

She  trembled  as  she  looked  up  into  his  face  and  read  it  for  a 
moment.  "You  are  too  much  of  a  gentleman  to  speak  as  you  have, 
unless  it  came  from  your  heart.  O  my  God !  is  this  reality,  or  am  I 
dreaming?"  She  drooped  her  head  upon  his  shoulder,  and  said  : 
"  '  Whither  thou  goest  I  will  go ;  thy  house  shall  be  my  house,  and 
thy  God  my  God.'  " 

The  full  moon  was  just  above  the  horizon,  and  the  long  dark 
shadows  veiled  them  from  view.  The  judge  rode  in  at  the  gate,  and 
leaving  his  horse,  went  directly  into  the  house.  A  moment  after  a 
carriage  drove  into  the  court,  and  from  it  dismounted  the  brother-in- 
law  sot  and  her  weird  sister;  for  indeed  she  was  a  very  Hecate  in  looks 
and  mischief.  Alice  stole  away  to  her  chamber;  and  the  happy 
stranger  to  wander  among  the  shrubs,  regardless  of  the  damp  and 
chill. 

Here  were  two  young  hearts  conscious  of  happiness ;  but  was  it  a 
happiness  derived  from  the  respective  merits  and  congenial  natures 
of  the  two  known  to  each  other?  They  were  comparatively  strangers, 
knowing  little  of  the  antecedents  of  each  other.  Each  was  unhappily 
situated  —  the  one  from  poverty,  the  other  owing  to  her  wealth  ;  the 
one  ardently  desirous  of  bettering  pecuniarily  his  position,  the  other 


FIFTY     YEARS.  319 

to  release  herself  from  restraints  that  were  tyrannical  and  to  enjoy 
that  independence  which  she  felt  was  her  natural  right.  Might  not 
these  considerations  override  the  purer  impulses  of  the  heart  arising 
from  that  regard  for  qualities  which  win  upon  the  mind  until  ripened 
first  into  deep  respect,  then  mellowed  into  tender  affection  by  asso- 
ciation protracted  and  intimate  ?  They  had  been  reared  in  societies 
radically  different :  their  early  impressions  were  equally  antago- 
nistic ;  but  their  aims  were  identical  —  to  escape  from  present  per- 
sonal embarrassments. 

They  had  met  romantically.  He  had  been  removed  for  many 
months  from  the  presence  of  civilized  society,  though  naturally  fond 
of  female  association,  and  craving  deeply  in  his  heart  the  commu- 
nion again  of  that  intercourse,  which  had  (as  he  had  learned  from  sad 
experience)  been  the  chief  cause  of  the  happiness  of  his  youth.  He 
met  her  first  as  he  entered  anew  the  relations  of  civilized  and  social 
society.  She  was  young  and  exquisitely  beautiful.  Their  meeting 
was  but  for  a  moment ;  their  intercourse  was  intensely  delightful  to 
him,  and  the  interest  her  ardent  nature  manifested  toward  him  was 
extremely  captivating.  He  had  gone  from  her,  with  her  in  all  his 
heart. 

She  for  the  time  was  free.  She  felt  not  the  restraint  of  her  female 
relatives,  and  the  ardor  of  her  heart  burned  out  in  the  delighted  sur- 
prise she  experienced  in  the  gentle  and  genial  bearing  of  one  to  all 
seeming  rude  and  uncultivated  as  the  savage  he  so  much  resembled 
in  the  contour  of  his  apparel.  She  had  trembled  with  a  strange 
ecstasy  as  he  strolled  by  her  side,  and  felt  a  thrill  pierce  her  soul  as 
she  looked  into  his  face  and  saw  what  she  had  never  seen,  beaming 
in  his  eyes.  She  had  never  seen  it  before ;  yet  she  knew  it,  and  felt 
she  had  found  what  her  heart  had  so  long  and  so  ardently  craved. 
She  had  parted  from  him  with  a  consciousness  that  she  was  never  to 
meet  him  again  ;  and  yet  his  image  was  with  her  by  day  and  by  night 
—  her  fancy  kept  him  by  day,  and  her  dreams  by  night.  She  loved 
him  for  the  mellow  civilization  of  his  heart  and  for  the  wild  savage- 
ness  of  his  garb.  Oh,  the  heart  of  dear  woman  !  it  is  her  world. 
Would  that  the  realizations  of  life  were  as  her  heart  paints  and  craves 
them  !  He  had  again  come  as  unexpectedly  to  her;  but  the  figure 
was  without  its  surroundings  :  the  diamond  was  there,  but  the  setting 
was  gone,  and  she  was  not  agreeably  surprised :  hence  the  indiffer- 
ence manifested  by  her  when  he  discovered  to  her  his  identity. 


320  THE    MEMORIES     OP 

Intercourse  had  revived  the  tenderness  of  the  woman  as  it  dispelled 
the  romance  of  the  girl.  Her  affection  she  deemed  was  not  a  fancy, 
but  a  feeling  now.  Her  heart  had  wandered  and  fluttered  like  a 
wounded  bird  seeking  some  friendly  limb  for  support  —  some  secluded 
shade  for  rest.  She  had  found  all,  and  she  was  happy.  He  was  her 
future;  she  thought  of  none  other— of  nothing  else.  Was  he  as 
happy  ?  He  had  seen  the  rough  side  of  the  world,  and  thought  more 
rationally.  His  night  was  sleepless.  In  a  moment  of  feeling  he  had 
asked  and  received  the  heart  of  a  lovely  being  whom  he  felt  he  could 
always  love.  He  knew  she  was  more  than  anxious  for  a  home  where 
she  was  mistress,  and  he  must  prepare  it  —  but  how,  or  where  ?  He 
was  without  means.  It  was  humiliating  to  depend  on  hers ;  and  this 
was  the  first  alloy  which  stained  and  impoverished  the  bliss  of  his 
anticipations. 

They  met  in  the  early  morning.  Her  brow  was  clouded.  None 
were  up  save  themselves.  Their  interview  was  brief  and  explicit. 
He  saw  her  in  a  new  phase ;  she  had  business  tact  as  well  as  an  inde- 
pendent spirit. 

"  You  must  leave  this  morning,"  she  said,  "  and  immediately  after 
breakfast.  My  sister  has  put  the  servants  through  the  gantlet  of 
inquiry.  They  knew  what  she  wanted  to  know,  and  if  inclination 
had  been  wanting,  the  fear  of  the  stocks  and  torture  would  have 
compelled  them  to  tell  it  to  her.  She  has  heard  all  she  wished,  to 
her  heart's  content.  She  was  in  my  chamber  until  midnight,  and,  as 
usual,  we  have  quarrelled.  They  have  told  her  that  I  was  constantly 
with  you,  and  that  I  was  in  love  with  you,  and  a  thousand  things  less 
true  than  this.  She  has  upbraided  me  for  entering  your  chamber 
when  you  were  sick.  She  menacingly  shook  her  finger  at  me,  and 
almost  threatened  corporal  punishment  if  I  did  not  desist  from  your 
association.  I  shall  be  surprised  if  she  does  not  insult  you  upon 
sight.  Nothing  will  prevent  it  but  fear  of  offending  brother.  This 
she  would  not  do  for  less  than  half  of  his  estate  —  for  that,  and  even 
more,  she  is  now  playing.  She  pretends  devotion  to  him ;  and  they 
profess  a  mutual  attachment.  If  this  is  sincere,  it  is  the  only  love 
either  of  them  ever  felt.  You  must  express  to  brother,  the  moment 
you  see  him,  your  determination  to  leave  at  once,  and  let  it  be  decided. 
I  don't  know  your  means,  but  fear  you  will  be  embarrassed,  as  you 
are  comparatively  a  stranger,  in  preparing  a  home  for  us.  Give  this 
to  its  address,  and  you  will  have  all  you  want.  Do  not  stop  to  look 


FIFTYYEARS.  .  321 

at  it.  Put  it  in  your  pocket  —  there.  I  shall  not  be  at  the  table 
this  morning  ;  there  would  be  unpleasantness  for  you,  I  am  sure.  I 
shall  not  see  you  again  until  you  come  to  carry  me  to  our  own  home, 
which  shall  be  very  soon.  Despite  this  contretemps  I  am  very 
happy  ;  and  now  farewell.  I  will  write  to  you ;  for  to-day  I  mean 
to  tell  brother  I  am  to  be  your  wife.  I  know  ho'w  he  will  receive  it ; 
but  he  knows  me,  and  will  more*  than  simply  approve  it.  He  will 
wish  to  give  us  a  wedding ;  but  I  will  not  receive  it.  Our  marriage 
must  be  private.  Again  farewell !  "  Without  a  kiss  they  parted. 

What  were  the  reflections  of  this  young  man  in  his  long  morning's 
drive  he  will  never  forget.  'T  was  fifty  years  ago ;  but  they  are  green 
in  memory  yet,  and  will  be  until  the  grave  yonder  at  the  hill's  foot, 
now  opening  to  view,  shall  close  over  —  close  out  this  mortality,  and 
all  the  memories  which  have  imbittered  life  so  long. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

WHEN   SUCCESSFUL,  RIGHT;  WHEN   NOT,  WRONG. 

TERRITORIAL  MISSISSIPPI  —  WILKINSON  —  ADAMS  —  JEFFERSON  —  WARREN  — 
CLAIBORNE— UNION  OF  THE  FACTIONS— COLONEL  WOOD— CHEW— DAVID 
HUNT — JOSEPH  DUNBAR  —  SOCIETY  OF  WESTERN  MISSISSIPPI  —  POP  VISITS 
OF  A  WEEK  TO  TEA — THE  HORSE  "  TOM  "  AND  HIS  RIDER  — OUR  GRAND- 
FATHER'S DAYS — AN  EMIGRANT'S  OUTFIT  —  MY  SHARE — GEORGE  POINDEX- 
TER — A  SUDDEN  OPENING  OF  A  COURT  OF  JUSTICE — THE  CALDWELL  AND 
GWINN  DUEL — JACKSON'S  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  MISSISSIPPI. 

THE  Counties  of  Wilkinson,  Adams,  Jefferson,  Claiborne,  and 
Warren  are  the  river  counties  carved  from  the  territory  first 
settled  in  the  State  of  Mississippi.  The  settlements  along  the  Mis- 
sissippi came  up  from  New  Orleans  and  went  gradually  up  the  stream. 
The  English  or  American  immigration  to  that  river  antedated  but  a 
very  short  time  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  The  commencement  of 
this  war  accelerated  the  settlement,  many  seeking  an  asylum  from 
the  horrors  of  war  within  the  peaceful  borders  of  this  new  and  far- 
away land.  The  five  counties  above  named  constituted  the  County 
of  Bourbon  when  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  was  extended 

V 


322  ,     THE     MEMORIES     OF 

to  the  territory.  Very  soon  after  it  was  divided  into  three  counties 
—  Wilkinson,  Adams,  and  Jefferson;  and  subsequently,  as  the  popu- 
lation increased,  Claiborne  and  Warren  were  organized  and  estab- 
lished. These  counties  were  named  after  John  Adams,  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson, General  Wilkinson,  General  Warren,  who  fell  at  Bunker's 
Hill,  and  General  Ferdinand  Claiborne,  a  distinguished  citizen  of  the 
Territory.  As  a  Territory,  Mississippi  extended  to  and  comprised 
all  the  territory  east  to  the  Alabama  River  or  to  the  Georgia  line. 
In  fact,  there  was  no  distinct  eastern  boundary  until  the  admission 
of  the  State  into  the  Union. 

The  leading  men  of  the  communities  first  formed  in  the  five 
counties  on  the  Mississippi  were  men  of  intelligence  and  substance. 
The  very  first  were  those  who,  to  avoid  the  consequences  of  the  war 
of  the  Revolution,  had  sought  security  here.  Some,  who  conscien- 
tiously scrupled  as  to  their  duty  in  that  conflict  —  unwilling  to  violate 
an  allegiance  which  they  felt  they  owed  to  the  British  crown,  and 
equally  unwilling  to  take  part  against  their  kindred  and  neighbors  — 
had  left  their  homes  and  come  here.  There  were  not  a  few  of  des- 
perate character,  who  had  come  to  avoid  the  penalties  of  the  criminal 
laws  of  the  countries  from  which  they  had  fled.  The  descendants  of 
all  these  constitute  a  large  element  of  the  population  of  these  counties 
at  the  present  moment.  Some  of  these  sustain  the  character  of  their 
ancestors  in  an  eminent  degree  ;  others  again  are  everything  but  what 
their  parents  were. 

One  feature  of  the  country  is  different  from  that  of  almost  any 
other  portion  of  the  United  States.  The  descendants  of  the  first 
pioneers  are  all  there.  There  has  been  no  emigration  from  the 
country.  The  consequence  is  that  intermarriages  have  made  nearly 
all  the  descendants  of  the  pioneers  relatives.  In  very  many  instances 
these  marriages  have  united  families  whose  ancient  feuds  are  tradi- 
tions of  the  country. 

The  opprobrium  attached  to  the  name  of  Tory  (which  was  freely 
given  to  all  who  had  either  avoided  the  war  by  emigration,  or  who 
had  remained  and  taken  part  against  the  colonies,  and  then,  to  avoid 
the  disgrace  they  had  earned  at  home,  and  also  to  escape  the  penalties 
of  the  laws  of  confiscation,  had  brought  here  their  property)  induced 
most  families  to  observe  silence  respecting  their  early  history,  or 
the  causes  which  brought  them  to  the  country,  and  especially  to 
their  children.  This  was  true  even  as  late  as  forty  years  ago.  There 


FIFTY    YEARS. 


323 


were  then  in  these  counties  many  families  of  wealth  and  polish,  whose 
ancestors  were  obnoxious  on  account  of  this  damaging  imputation  ; 
and  it  was  remembered  as  a  tradition  carefully  handed  down  by  those 
who  at  a  later  day  came  to  the  country  from  the  neighborhoods  left 
by  these  families,  and  in  most  instances  for  crimes  of  a  much  more 
heinous  character  than  obedience  to  conscientious  allegiance  to  the 
Government.  But  success  had  made  allegiance  treachery,  and  rebel- 
lion allegiance.  Success  too  often  sanctifies  acts  which  failure  would 
have  made  infamous. 

"  Be  it  so !  though  right  trampled  be  counted  for  wrong, 

And  that  pass  for  right  which  is  evil  victorious, 
Here,  where  virtue  is  feeble  and  villany  strong, 

'T  is  the  cause,  not  the  fate  of  a  cause,  that  is  glorious." 

The  inviting  character  of  the  soil  and  climate  induced  (as  soon  as 
a  settled  form  of  government  promised  protection)  rapid  emigration 
to  the  country.  This  came  from  every  part  of  the  United  States. 
Those  coming  from  the  same  State  usually  located  as  nearly  as  prac- 
ticable in  the  same  neighborhood,  and  to  this  day  many  of  these 
are  designated  by  the  name  of  the  country  or  State  from  which  they 
came.  There  are  in  the  County  of  Jefferson  two  neighborhoods 
known  to-day  as  the  Maryland  settlement  and  the  Scotch  settlement, 
and  the  writer  has  many  memories  —  very  pleasant  ones,  too  —  of 
happy  hours  in  the  long  past  spent  with  some  of  nature's  noblemen 
who  were  inhabitants  of  these  communities. 

Who  that  has  ever  sojourned  for  a  time  in  this  dear  old  county, 
does  not  remember  the  generous  and  elegant  hospitality  of  Colonel 
Wood,  Joseph  Dunbar,  and  Mr.  Chew ;  nor  must  I  forget  that  truly 
noble-hearted  man,  David  Hunt,  the  founder  of  Oakland  College, 
whose  charitable  munificence  was  lordly  in  character,  but  only  com- 
mensurate with  his  soul  and  great  wealth.  It  seems  invidious  to 
individualize  the  hospitality  of  this  community,  where  all  were  so  dis- 
tinguished; but  I  cannot  forbear  my  tribute  of  respect  —  my  heart's 
gratitude  —  to  Wood  and  Dunbar.  I  came  among  these  people 
young  and  a  stranger,  poor,  and  struggling  to  get  up  in  the  world. 
These  two  opened  their  hearts,  their  doors,  and  their  purses  to  me ; 
but  it  was  not  alone  to  me.  Should  all  who  have  in  like  circum- 
stances been  the  recipients  of  their  generous  and  unselfish  kind- 
nesses record  them  as  I  am  doing,  the  story  of  their  munificent 


324  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

generosity  and  open,  exalted  hospitality  would  seem  an  Eastern 
romance.  • 

They  have  been  long  gathered  to  their  fathers ;  but  so  long  as  any 
live  who  knew  them,  their  memories  will  be  green  and  cherished. 
In  this  neighborhood  was  built  the  first  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  State,  and  here  worshipped  the  Woods,  Dunbars,  MacGruders, 
Shields,  Greens,  and  others  composing  the  settlement.  The  de- 
scendants of  these  families  still  remain  in  that  neighborhood,  where 
anterior  to  the  late  war  was  accumulated  great  wealth.  The  topog- 
raphy of  the  country  is  beautifully  picturesque  with  hills  and  dales, 
and  all  exceedingly  fertile.  These  hills  are  a  continuation  of  the 
formation  commencing  at  Vicksburg,  and  extending  to  Bayou  Sara. 
They  are  peculiar,  and  seem  to  have  been  thrown  over  the  primi- 
tive formation  by  some  extraordinary  convulsion,  and  are  of  a  sandy 
loam.  No  marine  shells  are  found  in  them ;  but  occasionally  trees 
and  leaves  are  exhumed  at  great  depths.  No  water  is  found  in  this 
loam  by  digging  or  boring ;  but  after  passing  through  this  secondary 
formation,  the  humus  or  soil  of  the  primitive  is  reached  —  the  leaves 
and  limbs  of  trees  superincumbent  on  this  indicating  its  character  — 
then  the  sand  and  gravel,  and  very  soon  water,  as  in  other  primitive 
formations.  These  hills  extend  back  from  the  river  in  an  irregular 
line  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles,  and  are  distinguished  by  a  peculiar 
growth  of  timber  and  smaller  shrubs. 

The  magnolias  and  poplars,  with  linn,  red  oak,  and  black  walnut, 
are  the  principal  trees.  There  is  no  pine,  but  occasionally  an  enor- 
mous sassafras,  such  as  are  found  in  no  other  section  on  this  continent. 
There  is  no  stone,  and  no  running  water  except  streams  having  their 
rise  in  the  interior,  passing  through  these  hills  to  their  debouchment 
into  the  river.  The  entire  formation  is  a  rich  compost,  and  in  great 
part  soluble  in  water;  this  causes  them  to  wash,  and  when  not  culti- 
vated with  care,  they  cut  into  immense  gullies  and  ravines.  They 
are  in  some  places  almost  mountainous  in  height  and  exceedingly 
precipitous.  They  are  designated  at  different  localities  by  peculiar 
names — as  the  Walnut  Hills,  Grand  Hills,  Petit  Gulf  Hills,  Natchez 
Hills,  and  St.  Catherine  Hills.  In  primitive  forest  they  presented  a 
most  imposing  appearance. 

Large  and  lofty  timber  covered  from  base  to  summit  these  hills, 
increasing  their  grandeur  by  lifting  to  their  height  the  immense  vines 
found  in  great  abundance  all  over  them.  The  dense  wild  cane, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  325 

clothing  as  a  garment  the  surface  of  every  acre,  went  to  the  very 
tops  of  the  highest  hills,  adding  a  strange  feature  to  hill  scenery. 
The  river  only  approaches  these  hills  in  a  few  places  and  always  at 
right  angles,  and  is  by  them  deflected,  leaving  them  always  on  the 
outer  curve  of  the  semicircle  or  bend  in  the  stream.  From  these 
points  and  from  the  summit  of  these  cliffs  the  view  is  very  fine, 
stretching  often  in  many  places  far  up  and  down  the  river  and  away 
over  the  plain  west  of  the  river,  which  seems  to  repose  upon  its  lap 
as  far  as  the  eye  can  view.  The  scene  is  sombre,  but  grand,  espe- 
cially when  lighted  by  the  evening's  declining  sun.  The  plain  is 
unbroken  by  any  elevation :  the  immense  trees  rise  to  a  great  height, 
and  all  apparently  to  the  same  level  —  the  green  foliage  in  summer 
strangely  commingling  with  the  long  gray  moss  which  festoons  from 
the  upper  to  the  lower  limbs,  waving  as  a  garland  in  the  fitful  wind ; 
and  the  dead  gray  of  the  entire  scene  in  winter  is  sad  and  melancholy 
as  a  vast  cemetery.  There  is  a  gloomy  grandeur  in  this,  which  is 
only  rivalled  by  that  of  the  sea,  when  viewed  from  a  towering  height, 
lazily  lolling  in  the  quiet  of  a  summer  evening's  calm. 

To  encounter  the  perils  of  a  pioneer  to  such  a  country  required 
men  of  iron  nerve.  Such,  with  women  who  dared  to  follow  them, 
to  meet  and  to  share  every  danger  and  fearlessly  to  overcome  every 
obstacle  to  their  enterprise,  coming  from  every  section  of  the 
United  States,  formed  communities  and  introduced  the  arts  and 
industry  of  civilization,  to  subdue  these  forests  and  compel  the 
soil  to  yield  its  riches  for  the  use  of  man.  From  these  had  grown  a 
population,  fifty  years  ago,  combining  the  daring  and  noble  traits  of 
human  character  which  lie  at  the  base  of  a  grand  and  chivalrous 
civilization.  Such  men  were  the  leaders  and  controllers  of  the 
society  at  that  time,  assuming  a  uniform  and  homogeneous  character 
throughout  the  western  portion  of  the  State.  The  invasion  of  New 
Orleans  had  endangered  this  section,  and  to  a  man  they  rallied  to 
meet  the  foe.  More  than  half  the  male  population  of  that  portion 
of  the  State  were  at  New  Orleans  and  in  the  trenches  on  the  memo- 
rable 8th  of  January,  1815.  Their  conduct  upon  that  occasion  was 
distinguished,  and  won  from  General  Jackson  high  commendation. 
The  charge  of  the  Mississippi  cavalry,  commanded  by  General 
Thomas  Hinds,,  the  General,  in  his  report  of  the  battle,  said,  excited 
the  admiration  of  one  army  and  the  astonishment  of  the  other. 

This  campaign  brought  together  the  younger  portion  of  the  male 
28 


326  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

population  of  the  State,  and  under  such  circumstances  as  to  make 
them  thoroughly  to  know  each  other.  These  men  were  the  promi- 
nent personages  of  the  State  forty  years  ago,  and  they  formed  the 
character  of  the  population  and  inspired  the  gallantry  and  chivalry 
of  spirit  which  so  distinguished  the  troops  of  Mississippi  in  the  late 
unfortunate  civil  war  —  in  all,  but  in  none  so  conspicuously,  in  this 
spirit  and  nobleness  of  soul  and  sentiment,  as  in  the  characters  of 
Jefferson  Davis  and  John  A.  Quitman  —  foremost  to  take  up  arms  in 
the  war  with  Mexico,  resigning  high  positions  for  the  duties  of  the 
soldier,  to  follow  the  flag,  and  avenge  the  insults  of  a  presumptuous 
foe. 

The  society  of  Western  Mississippi,  forty  years  ago,  was  distin- 
guished above  any  other  in  the  Union,  for  a  bold,  generous,  and 
frank  character,  which  lent  a  peculiar  charm.  It  was  polished,  yet 
it  was  free  and  unreserved,  full  of  the  courtesies  of  life,  with  the  rough 
familiarity  of  a  coarser  people.  The  sports  of  the  turf  were  pursued 
with  enthusiastic  ardor.  The  chase  for  the  fox  and  the  red  deer 
pervaded  almost  universally  the  higher  walks  of  life.  The  topogra- 
phy of  the  country  was  such  as  to  make  these,  in  the  fearless  rides 
they  compelled,  extremely  hazardous,  familiarizing  their  votaries 
with  danger  and  inspiring  fearlessness  and  daring.  Almost  every 
gentleman  had  his  hunting  steed  and  kennel  of  hounds ;  and  at  the 
convivial  dinner  which  always  followed  the  hunt,  he  could  talk  horse 
and  hound  with  the  zest  of  a  groom  or  whipper-in,  and  at  the  even- 
ing soirle  emulate  D'Orsay  or  Chesterfield  in  the  polish  of  his  man- 
ners and  the  elegance  of  his  conversation.  This  peculiarity  was  not 
alone  confined  to  the  gentlemen.  The  ladies  were  familiar  with 
every  household  duty,  and  attended  to  them :  they  caught  from  their 
husbands  and  brothers  the  open  frankness  of  their  bearing  and  con- 
versation, a  confident,  yet  not  a  bold  or  offensive  bearing  in  their 
homes  and  in  society,  with  a  polished  refinement  and  an  elevation  of 
sentiment  in  all  they  said  or  did,  which  made  them  to  me  the  most 
charming  and  lovely  of  their  sex — and  which  made  Mississippi  forty 
years  ago  the  most  desirable  place  of  rural  residence  in  the  Union. 

The  conduct  of  these  people  was  universally  lofty  and  honorable. 
A  fawning  sycophancy  or  little  meannesses  were  unknown ;  social 
intercourse  was  unrestrained  because  all  were  honorable,  and  that 
reserve  which  so  plainly  speaks  suspicion  of  your  company  was  never 
seen.  There  was  no  habit  of  canvassing  the  demerits  of  a  neighbor 


FIFTY     YEARS.  327 

or  his  affairs.  The  little  backbitings  and  petty  slanders  which  so 
frequently  mar  the  harmony  of  communities,  was  never  indulged  or 
*olerated.  Homogeneous  in  its  character,  the  population  was  harmo- 
nious. United  in  the  same  pursuits,  the  emulation  was  kind  and 
honorable.  The  tone  and  purity  was  superior  to  low  and  debasing 
vices,  and  these  and  their  concomitants  were  unknown.  There  were 
few  dram-shops  or  places  of  low  resort,  and  these  only  for  the  lower 
and  more  debased  of  the  community.  Fortunately,  fifty  years  ago, 
there  were  but  few  such  characters,  no  meetings  for  gaming  or 
debauchery,  and  the  social  communion  of  the  people  was  chaste  and 
cordial  at  their  hospitable  and  elegant  homes. 

A  peculiar  feature  of  the  society  of  the  river  counties  was  the 
perfect  freedom  of  manners,  and  yet  the  high  polish,  the  absence 
of  neighborhood  discord,  and  the  strict  regard  for  personal  and 
pecuniary  rights :  a  sort  of  universal  confidence  pervaded  every  com- 
munity, and  in  every  transaction  personal  honor  supplied  the  place 
of  litigation.  Strangers  of  respectable  appearance  were  not  met  with 
apparent  suspicion,  but  with  hospitable  kindness;  and  especially  was 
this  the  case  toward  young  men  who  professedly  came  in  search  of  a 
new  home  and  new  fields  for  the  exercise  of  their  abilities  profes- 
sionally, or  for  the  more  profitable  employment  of  any  means  they 
might  to  have  brought  to  the  country.  Now,  at  seventy  years  of  age, 
and  after  the  experience  of  half  a  century  of  men  and  society  in 
almost  every  portion  of  the  Union,  I  can  truthfully  say,  nowhere 
have  I  ever  met  so  truthful,  so  generous,  and  so  hospitable  a  people 
as  the  planters  and  gentlemen  of  the  river  counties  of  Mississippi, 
fifty  years  ago  —  nowhere  women  more  refined,  yet  affable ;  so 
modest,  yet  frank  and  open  in  their  social  intercourse ;  so  dignified, 
without  austerity ;  so  chaste  and  pure  in  sentiment  and  action,  with- 
out prudery  or  affectation,  as  the  mothers,  wives,  and  daughters  of 
those  planters. 

The  Bench  and  the  Bar  were  distinguished  for  ability  and  purity; 
many  of  these  have  left  national  reputations  —  all  of  them  honora- 
ble names  to  their  families  and  profession.  Nor  were  the  physicians 
less  distinguished.  The  names  of  Provan,  McPheters,  Cartwright, 
Ogden,  Parker,  Cox,  and  Dennie  will  be  remembered  when  all  who 
were  their  compeers  shall  have  passed  away,  as  ornaments  to  their 
profession.  There  is  one  other,  still  living  at  a  very  advanced  age, 
who  was  perhaps  the  superior  of  any  I  have  mentioned — James  Met- 


328  THE    MEMORIES    OF 

calf,  who  not  only  was  and  is  an  ornament  to  his  profession,  but  to 
human  nature.  He  is  one  of  the  few  surviving  monuments  of  the 
men  of  fifty  years  ago.  His  life  has  been  eminently  useful  and  emi- 
nently pure.  He  has  lived  to  see  his  children  emulating  his  example 
as  virtuous  and  useful  citizens,  above  reproach,  and  an  honor  to  their 
parents. 

There  was  not,  perhaps,  in  the  Union,  a  stronger  Bar  in  any  four 
counties  than  here  —  Childs,  Gibbs,  Worley,  George  Adams,  (the 
father  of  Generals  Daniel  and  Wirt  Adams,)  Robert  H.  Adams,  (who 
died  a  Senator  in  the  United  States  Congress  when  it  was  an  honor  to 
fill  the  position,)  Lyman  Harding,  W.  B.  Griffith,  John  A.  Quitman, 
Joseph  E.  Davis,  (the  elder  brother  of  Jefferson  Davis,)  Thomas  B. 
Reid,  Robert  J.  and  Duncan  Walker.  Time  has  swept  on,  and  but 
one  of  all  these  remains  in  life  —  Robert  J.  Walker.  Edward  Tuner, 
then  the  presiding  judge  of  the  District  Court,  was  a  Kentuckian. 
Four  brothers  immigrated  to  the  country  about  the  same  time.  Two 
remained  at  Natchez,  one  at  Bayou  Sara,  in  Louisiana,  and  the  fourth 
went  to  New  Orleans.  All  became  distinguished  :  three  as  lawyers, 
who  honored  the  Bench  in  their  respective  localities,  and  the  fourth 
as  a  merchant  and  planter  accumulated  an  immense  fortune. 

The  planters  almost  universally  resided  upon  their  plantations, 
and  their  habits  were  rural  and  temperate.  Their  residences  were 
unostentatious,  but  capacious  and  comfortable,  with  every  attach- 
ment which  could  secure  comfort  or  contribute  to  their  pleasure. 
The  plantation  houses  for  the  slaves  were  arranged  conveniently 
together,  constituting  with  the  barns,  stabling,  and  gin-houses  a  neat 
village. 

The  grounds  about  the  residences  were  covered  with  forest-trees 
carefully  preserved  ;  shrubs  and  flowers  were  cultivated  with  exquisite 
taste  among  these  and  over  the  garden  grounds  around  and  beyond 
them.  Social  intercourse  was  of  the  most  cordial  and  unrestrained 
character.  It  was  entirely  free  from  that  embarrassing  ceremony 
which  in  urban  communities  makes  it  formal,  stiff,  and  a  mere  cere- 
mony. It  was  characterized  by  high-breeding,  which  made  it  not 
only  unrestrained  but  polished,  cultivating  the  heart  and  the  manners 
to  feeling  and  refinement;  making  society  what  it  should  be  —  a 
source  of  enjoyment  and  heart-happiness,  free  from  jealousies,  rival- 
ries, and  regrets. 

The  distances  from  plantation  to  plantation  were  such  as  to  pre- 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


329 


elude  visiting  as  a  simple  call ;  consequently  calls  were  for  spending 
a  day  to  dine,  or  an  evening  to  tea,  to  a  rural  ride,  or  some  amuse- 
ment occupying  at  least  half  a  day,  and  not  unfrequently  half  a  week. 
Every  planter  built  his  house,  if  not  with  a  view  to  architectural  sym- 
metry and  beauty,  at  least  with  ample  room  to  entertain  his  friends, 
come  they  in  ever  such  numbers,  and  his  hospitality  was  commen- 
surate with  his  house  —  as  capacious  and  as  unpretending.  It  was 
the  universal  habit  for  both  ladies  and  gentlemen  to  ride  on  horse- 
back. The  beauty  of  the  forest,  through  which  ran  the  roads  and 
by-ways  —  its  fragrant  blooms  —  its  dark,  dense  foliage,  invited  to  such 
exercise ;  and  social  reunions  were  frequently  accomplished  in  the 
cool  shades  of  these  grand  old  forests  by  parties  ruralizing  on  horse- 
back when  the  sun  was  low,  and  the  shade  was  sweet,  which  led  them 
to  unite  and  visit,  as  unexpectedly  as  they  were  welcome,  some  neigh- 
bor, where  without  ceremony  the  evening  was  spent  in  rural  and 
innocent  amusement  —  a  dance,  a  game  of  whist  or  euchre  —  until 
weary  with  these ;  and  on  the  arrival  of  the  hour  for  rest  they  left, 
and  galloped  home  in  the  soft  moonlight,  respectively  flushed  with 
health-giving  exercise,  and  only  sufficiently  fatigued  to  be  able  to 
sleep  well. 

Nowhere  does  a  splendid  woman  appear  to  more  advantage  than 
on  horseback.  Trained  from  early  girlhood  to  horseback  exercise, 
she  learns  to  sit  fearlessly  and  control  absolutely  the  most  fiery  steed, 
to  accommodate  herself  to  his  every  motion,  and  in  his  movements 
to  display  the  ease  and  grace  of  this  control  and  confidence.  No- 
where on  earth  were  to  be  found  more  splendid  women  or  more 
intrepid  riders  than  the  daughters  of  the  planters  of  Mississippi  fifty 
years  ago.  Each  was  provided  for  her  especial  use  with  an  animal 
of  high  blood,  finished  form,  and  well-trained  gait.  Daily  inter- 
course familiarized  rider  and  horse,  and  an  attachment  grew  up 
between  them  that  was  always  manifested  by  both  upon  meeting.  It 
was  said  by  Napoleon  that  his  parade-horse  knew  and  recognized 
him,  and  bore  himself  with  more  pride  and  spirit  when  he  was  in  the 
saddle  than  when  mounted  by  any  other.  Whoever  has  accustomed 
himself  to  treat  kindly  his  saddle-horse,  and  to  suffer  no  one  but 
himself  to  ride  him,  can  well  understand  this.  I  remember  a  horse 
and  his  rider  among  my  early  acquaintances  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi,  whose  mutual  attachment  was  so  remarkable  as  to  excite 
the  wonder  of  strangers.  That  rider  was  a  true  woman  —  kind, 
28* 


33O  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

gentle,  and  yet  full  of  spirit.  Affectionate  as  she  was  fearless,  she 
had  importuned  her  brother  for  the  gift  of  a  fine  young  blood-horse, 
which  he  gave  her  upon  the  condition  tha^  she  would  ride  him.  She 
was  an  experienced  rider,  and  promised. 

After  a  few  days  of  close  intimacy,  she  ventured  to  mount  him. 
To  the  astonishment  of  every  one  he  was  perfectly  docile,  and  moved 
away  gently,  but  with  an  air  of  pride,  as  if  conscious  of  the  precious 
burden  he  bore.  From  that  time  forward  no  one  was  permitted  to 
ride  him  but  the  lady,  who  visited  him  every  day  in  his  stall,  and 
always  carried  him  a  loaf  of  bread  or  a  cup  of  sugar,  and  never 
mounted  him  without  going  to  his  front  and  holding  a  conversation 
with  pretty  Tom,  stroking  his  head  with  her  gentle  hand,  and  giving 
him  a  lump  of  sugar  or  a  biscuit.  He  was  allowed  the  liberty  of  the 
yard,  to  graze  on  the  young  sweet  grass  of  the  front  lawn,  and  luxu- 
riate in  the  shade  of  the  princely  trees  which  grew  over  it.  One  or 
many  ladies  might  go  out  upon  the  gallery  and  remain  unnoticed  by 
Tom.  The  moment,  however,  that  his  mistress  came,  and  he  saw 
her  or  heard  her  voice,  he  would  neigh  in  recognition  of  her  pres- 
ence, and  bound  immediately  forward  to  the  house,  manifesting  in 
his  eye  and  manner  great  pleasure.  This  was  kindly  returned  by 
the  lady  always  descending  the  steps  and  gently  stroking  his  head, 
which  he  would  affectionately  rest  against  her  person.  He  would 
follow  her  over  the  yard  like  a  pet  spaniel ;  but  he  would  do  this  for 
no  one  else.  He  knew  her  voice,  and  would  obey  it,  and  bound 
to  her  call  with  the  alacrity  of  a  child.  His  pleasure  at  her  coming 
to  mount  him,  when  saddled  for  a  ride,  was  so  marked  as  to  excite 
astonishment.  He  would  carefully  place  himself  for  her  convenience, 
and  stand  quiet  after  she  was  in  the  saddle  until  her  riding-skirt  was 
adjusted  and  her  foot  well  in  the  stirrup,  and  then  she  would  only 
say,  "  Now,  Tom !  "  when  he  would  arch  his  neck  and  move  off 
with  a  playful  bound,  and  curvet  about  the  grounds  until  she  would 
lay  her  hand  upon  his  mane,  and,  gently  patting  his  neck,  say, 
" There,  Tom!  "  Then  the  play  was  over,  and  he  went  gallantly 
forward,  obediently  and  kindly  as  a  reasoning  being. 

The  young  reader  will  excuse  this  garrulity  of  age :  it  is  its  privilege ; 
and  I  am  writing  my  recollections  of  bygone  years,  and  none  are 
more  pleasant  than  those  which  recall  to  me  this  great  woman  —  the 
delightful  hours  spent  in  her  society  at  the  hospitable  home  of  her 
family.  She  still  lives,  an  aged  woman,  respected  by  all,  and  hon- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  331 

ored  in  the  great  merits  of  her  children.  Like  Tom,  they  were 
affectionately  trained;  and  like  Tom,  they  were  dutiful  in  their  con- 
duct, and  live  to  perpetuate  her  intelligence  and  the  noble  attributes 
of  her  glorious  heart.  Should  these  lines  ever  meet  her  eye,  she 
will  remember  the  writer,  and  recall  the  delightful  rides  and  happy 
hours  spent  together  a  long  time  ago.  We  are  both  in  the  winter  of 
life,  time's  uses  are  almost  ended,  and  all  that  is  blissful  now  are  the 
memories  of  the  past.  Dear  Fannie,  close  the  book  and  your  eyes, 
turn  back  to  fifty  years  ago,  and  to  the  memories  common  to  us  both, 
give  the  heart  one  brief  moment  to  these,  and,  as  now  I  do,  drop  a 
tear  to  them. 

The  population  in  the  four  river  counties,  at  the  time  of  which  I 
write,  was  much  more  dense  than  of  any  other  portion  of  the  State : 
still  there  were  numerous  settlements  in  different  parts  of  the  State 
quite  populous.  That  upon  Pearl  River,  of  these,  perhaps,  was  most 
populous ;  but  those  eastern  settlements  were  constituted  of  a  different 
people :  most  of  them  were  from  the  poorer  districts  of  Georgia  and 
the  Carol inas.  True  to  the  instincts  of  the  people  from  whom  they 
were  descended,  they  sought  as  nearly  as  possible  just  such  a  country 
as  that  from  which  they  came,  and  were  really  refugees  from  a  grow- 
ing civilization  consequent  upon  a  denser  population  and  its  neces- 
sities. They  were  not  agriculturists  in  a  proper  sense  of  the  term ; 
true,  they  cultivated  in  some  degree  the  soil,  but  it  was  not  the  prime 
pursuit  of  these  people,  nor  was  the  location  sought  for  this  purpose. 
They  desired  an  open,  poor,  pine  country,  which  forbade  a  numerous 
population. 

Here  they  reared  immense  herds  of  cattle,  which  subsisted  ex- 
clusively upon  the  coarse  grass  and  reeds  which  grew  abundantly 
among  the  tall,  long-leafed  pine,  and  along  the  small  creeks  and 
branches  numerous  in  this  section.  Through  these  almost  inter- 
minable pine-forests  the  deer  were  abundant,  and  the  canebrakes  full 
of  bears.  They  combined  the  pursuits  of  hunting  and  stock-mind- 
ing, and  derived  support  and  revenue  almost  exclusively  from  these. 
They  were  illiterate  and  careless  of  the  comforts  of  a  better  reared, 
better  educated,  and  more  intelligent  people.  They  were  unable  to 
employ  for  each  family  a  teacher,  and  the  population  was  too  sparse 
to  collect  the  children  in  a  neighborhood  school.  These  ran  wild, 
half  naked,  unwashed  and  uncombed,  hatless  and  bonnetless  through 
the  woods  and  grass,  followed  by  packs  of  lean  and  hungry  curs, 


332  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

hallooing  and  yelling  in  pursuit  of  rabbits  and  opossums,  and  were 
as  wild  as  the  Indians  they  had  supplanted,  and  whose  pine-bark 
camps  were  yet  here  and  there  to  be  seen,  where  temporarily  stayed 
a  few  strolling,  degraded  families  of  Choctaws. 

Some  of  these  pioneers  had  been  in  the  country  many  years,  were 
surrounded  with  descendants,  men  and  women,  the  growth  of  the 
country,  rude,  illiterate,  and  independent.  Along  the  margins  of  the 
streams  they  found  small  strips  of  land  of  better  quality  than  the  pine- 
forests  afforded.  Here  they  grew  sufficient  corn  for  bread  and  a  few 
of  the  coarser  vegetables,  and  in  blissful  ignorance  enjoyed  life  after 
the  manner  they  loved.  The  country  gave  character  to  the  people  : 
both  were  wild  and  poor;  both  were  sui generis  in  appearance  and 
production,  and  both  seeming  to  fall  away  from  the  richer  soil  and 
better  people  of  the  western  portion  of  the  State. 

Between  them  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  river  counties  there  was 
little  communication  and  less  sympathy ;  and  I  fancy  no  country  on 
earth  of  the  same  extent  presented  a  wider  difference  in  soil  and  popula- 
tion, especially  one  speaking  the  same  language  and  professing  the  same 
religion.  Time,  and  the  pushing  a  railroad  through  this  eastern  por- 
tion of  the  State,  have  effected  vast  changes  for  the  better,  and  among 
these  quaintly  called  piney-woods  people  now  are  families  of  wealth 
and  cultivation.  But  in  the  main  they  are  yet  nide  and  illiterate. 

Not  ten  years  since,  I  spent  some  time  in  Eastern  Mississippi.  I 
met  at  his  home  a  gentleman  I  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  in  New 
Orleans.  He  is  a  man  of  great  worth  and  fine  intelligence :  his  grand- 
father had  emigrated  to  the  country  in  1785  from  Emanuel  County, 
Georgia.  His  grandson  says:  "  He  carried  with  him  a  small  one- 
horse  cart  pulled  by  an  old  gray  mare,  one  feather  bed,  an  oven,  a 
frying-pan,  two  pewter  dishes,  six  pewter  plates,  as  many  spoons,  a 
rifle  gun,  and  three  deer-hounds.  He  worried  through  the  Creek 
Nation,  extending  then  from  the  Oconee  River  to  the  Tombigbee. 

"After  four  months  of  arduous  travel  he  found  his  way  to  Leaf 
River,  and  there  built  his  cabin ;  and  with  my  grandmother,  and  my 
father,  who  was  born  on  the  trip  in  the  heart  of  the  Creek  Nation,  com- 
menced to  make  a  fortune.  He  found  on  a  small  creek  of  beautiful 
water  a  little  bay  land,  and  made  his  little  field  for  corn  and  pump- 
kins upon  that  spot :  all  around  was  poor,  barren  pine  woods,  but  he 
said  it  was  a  good  range  for  stock  ;  but  he  had  not  an  ox  or  cow  on 
the  face  of  the  earth.  The  truth  is,  it  looked  like  Emanuel  County. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  333 

The  turpentine  smell,  the  moan  of  the  winds  through  the  pine-trees, 
and  nobody  within  fifty  miles  of  him,  was  too  captivating  a  concate- 
nation to  be  resisted,  and  he  rested  here. 

"  About  five  years  after  he  came,  a  man  from  Pearl  River  was  driv- 
ing some  cattle  by  to  Mobile,  and  gave  my  grandfather  two  cows  to 
help  him  drive  his  cattle.  It  was  over  one  hundred  miles,  and  you 
would  have  supposed  it  a  dear  bargain ;  but  it  turned  out  well,  for  the 
old  man  in  about  six  weeks  got  back  with  six  other  head  of  cattle. 
How  or  where,  or  from  whom  he  got  them  is  not  one  of  the  traditions 
of  the  family.  From  these  he  commenced  to  rear  a  stock  which  in 
time  became  large. 

"  My  father  and  his  brothers  and  sisters  were  getting  large  enough 
to  help  a  little ;  but  my  grandfather  has  told  me  that  my  father  was 
nine  years  old  before  he  ever  tasted  a  piece  of  bacon  or  pork. 
When  my  father  was  eighteen  years  of  age  he  went  with  a  drove  of 
beef  cattle  to  New  Orleans.  He  first  went  to  Baton  Rouge,  thence 
down  the  river.  He  soon  sold  out  advantageously;  for  he  came 
home  with  a  young  negro  man  and  his  wife,  some  money,  and  my 
mother,  whom  he  had  met  and  married  on  the  route.  Well,  from 
those  negroes,  and  eight  head  of  cattle,  all  the  family  have  come  to 
have  something. 

"I  was  born  nine  months  after  that  trip,  and  grew  up,  as  father  had 
done  before  me,  on  the  banks  of  that  little  creek.  I  doubt  if  there 
ever  was  a  book  in  my  grandfather's  house.  I  certainly  never 
remember  to  have  seen  one  there,  and  I  was  sixteen  years  old  when 
he  died.  I  think  I  was  very  nearly  that  old  before  I  ever  saw  any 
woman  but  those  of  the  family,  and  I  know  I  was  older  than  that  before 
ever  I  wore  shoes  or  pants.  Nearly  every  year  father  went  to  Mobile, 
or  Natchez,  or  New  Orleans.  The  first  time  I  ever  knew  my  mother 
had  a  brother,  I  was  driving  up  the  cows,  and  a  tall,  good-looking  man 
overtook  me  in  the  road  and  asked  where  my  father  lived.  I  remem- 
ber I  told  him,  'At  home.1  He  thought  it  was  impudence,  but  it 
was  ignorance.  However,  he  was  quite  communicative  and  friendly. 

"That  night,  after  the  family  had  gone  to  bed,  I  heard  him  tell 
mother  her  father  was  dead,  and  that  he  had  disinherited  her  for 
running  off  and  marrying  father.  I  did  not  know  what  this  meant ; 
but  the  next  day  father  came  and  told  mother  that  her  brother 
wanted  to  be  kind  to  her,  and  had  proposed  to  give  him  a  thousand 
dollars  out  of  the  estate  of  her  father,  if  he  and  she  would  take  it  and 


334  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

sign  off.  That  was  the  word.  I  shall  not  forget,  so  long  as  I  live, 
my  mother's  looks  as  she  walked  up  to  father  and  said  :  '  Don't  you 
do  it,  John.  John,  I  say,  don't  you  do  it.'  Uncle  had  gone  down 
to  grandfather's,  and  when  he  came  back,  mother  had  his  horse  sad- 
dled at  the  fence.  She  met  him  at  the  door,  and  said  :  '  You  don't 
come  in  here.  There  's  your  beast ;  mount  him,  and  go.  I  am  not 
such  a  fool  as  my  John.  I  was  raised  in  Louisiana,  and  I  remember 
hearing  my  father  say  that  all  he  hated  in  the  laws  was  that  a  man 
could  not  do  with  his  property,  when  he  died,  what  he  pleased.- 
I  haven't  forgot  that.  I  have  not  seen  nor  heard  from  any  of  you 
for  fifteen  years,  and  never  should,  if  you  had  n't  come  here  to  try  to 
cheat  me.' 

"  I  was  scared,  and  father  was  scared  ;  for  we  knew  there  was  dan- 
ger when  mother's  nap  was  up.  Uncle  did  not  reply  to  mother,  but 
said  :  'John,  you  can  sign  off.' 

"  'No,  John  can't;  and  I  tell  you  John  shan't!  so  now  do  you 
just  mount  that  horse  and  leave.' 

"As  she  said  this  she  lifted  the  old  rifle  out  of  the  rack  over  the 
door  and  nibbed  her  hand  over  the  barrel  to  get  the  sight  clear.  '  I 
am  not  going  to  tell  you  to  go  any  more.' 

"  It  was  not  necessary  —  uncle  went ;  but  he  kept  looking  back  until 
he  was  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  house.  Mother  turned  to 
father  and  said  :  '  Now,  John,  you  go  after  my  share  of  father's  truck, 
and  go  quick.'  He  did  as  she  bid  him  :  everybody  about  the  house 
did  that.  Well,  he  was  gone  three  weeks,  and  came  home  with  six 
thousand  dollars,  which  he  had  taken  for  mother's  share ;  but  she 
said  she  knew  he  had  been  cheated. 

"  Every  dollar  of  that  money  remained  in  the  house  until  I  got 
married  and  came  off  here.  I  got  two  thousand  of  it,  one  negro, 
and  two  hundred  head  of  cattle.  I  had  promised  my  wife's  people 
that  I  would  come  and  live  with  them.  I  am  glad  I  did.  I  was 
twenty-one  years  old  when  I  learned  my  letters.  I  have  been  lucky ; 
have  educated  my  children,  and  they  have  educated  me,  and  are  talk- 
ing about  running  me  for  Congress.  Well,  my  friend,  I  believe  I 
could  be  elected ;  but  that  is  a  small  part  of  the  business.  I  should 
be  of  no  service  to  the  State,  and  only  show  my  own  ignorance. 
Come,  Sue,  can't  you  give  the  gentleman  some  music?  Give  me  my 
fiddle,  and  I  will  help  you." 

Sue  was  a  beautiful  and  interesting  girl  of  nineteen,  only  a  short 


FIFTY     YEARS.  335 

time  returned  from  a  four-years  residence  at  the  famous  Patapsco 
Institute.  She  had  music  in  her  soul,  and  the  art  to  pour  it  out 
through  her  fingers'  ends,.  It  was  an  inheritance  from  her  extraordi- 
nary father,  as  any  judge  of  music  would  have  said,  who  had  heard 
the  notes  melting  from  that  old  black  violin,  on  that  rainy  night  in 
December.  There  are  not  many  such  instances  of  men  springing 
from  such  humble  origin  in  Eastern  Mississippi ;  but  this  is  not  a  soli- 
tary case. 

There  emigrated  from  different  States,  North  and  South,  at  a  remote 
period  in  the  brief  history  of  this  new  country,  several  young  men  of 
talent  and  great  energy,  who  not  only  distinguished  themselves,  but 
shed  lustre  upon  the  State.  Among  the  first  of  these  was  George 
Poindexter,  from  Virginia ;  Rankin,  from  Georgia,  (but  born  in  Vir- 
ginia;) Thomas  B.  Reid,  from  Kentucky;  Stephen  Duncan,  and 
James  Campbell  Wilkins,  from  Pennsylvania.  The  most  remark- 
able of  these  was  George  Poindexter.  He  was  a  lawyer  by  profes- 
sion and  a  Jeffersonian  Republican  in  politics.  Very  early  in  life  he 
became  the  leader  of  that  party  in  the  State,  and  was  sent  to  Con- 
gress as  its  sole  representative.  Very  soon  he  obtained  an  enviable 
reputation  in  that  body  as  a  statesman  and  a  powerful  debater.  His 
mind  was  logical  and  strong ;  his  conception  was  quick  and  acute ; 
his  powers  of  combination  and  application  were  astonishing ;  his  wit 
was  pointed  and  caustic,  and  his  sarcasm  overwhelming.  Unusually 
quick  to  perceive  the  weaker  parts  of  an  opponent's  argument,  his 
ingenuity  would  seize  these  and  turn  them  upon  him  with  a  point 
and  power  not  unfrequently  confounding  and  destroying  the  effect 
of  all  he  had  urged.  From  Congress  to  the  Gubernatorial  chair  of 
the  State  was  the  next  step  in  his  political  career,  and  it  was  in  this 
capacity  that  he  rendered  the  most  signal  service  to  the  State.  As  a 
lawyer,  he  was  well  aware  of  the  wants  of  the  State  in  statutory  pro- 
visions for  the  protection  of  the  people.  These  were  wisely  recom- 
mended, and,  through  his  exertions,  enacted  into  laws. 

The  several  Governments  which  had  claimed  and  held  jurisdiction 
over  the  Territory  of  Mississippi  had  issued  grants  to  companies  and 
individuals  for  large  tracts  of  country  in  different  portions  of  the 
State.  These  grants  had  not  been  respected  by  the  succeeding  Gov- 
ernments, or  else  the  records  had  been  lost  or  carried  from  the 
country  for  a  time;  hence  very  many  conflicting  claims  made  insecure 
the  titles  of  the  proprietors  now  settled  upon  these  tracts,  and  were 


336  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

fruitful  of  endless  litigation.  To  remedy  this  evil,  a  statute  was  recom- 
mended by  Governor  Poindexter  and  enacted  into  a  law,  compelling 
suit  to  be  commenced  by  all  adverse  claimants  by  a  certain  day. 
This  effectually  cured  the  evil,  and  a  suit  to  establish  titles  is  now 
very  rare  in  Mississippi.  As  a  judge  he  was  able,  prompt,  impartial, 
unrivalled  in  talent,  and,  at  the  same  time,  unsurpassed  by  any  lawyer 
in  the  State  in  legal  learning.  His  administration  of  the  laws  was 
eminently  successful.  The  country  was  new,  with  the  exception  of 
a  few  counties,  and,  as  in  all  new  and  frontier  countries,  there  were 
many  bad  and  desperate  men.  To  purge  these  from  society  it  was 
necessary  that  the  criminal  laws  should  be  strictly  enforced.  To  do 
so  required  decision  and  sternness  in  the  character  and  conduct  of 
the  judges.  Very  soon  after  Poindexter  was  placed  on  the  Bench  he 
manifested  these  attributes  in  an  eminent  degree. 

The  stern,  impartial  justice  administered  to  these  lawless  men, 
soon  created  quite  a  sensation  with  the  class  to  which  they  belonged, 
and  threats  were  freely  thrown  out  against  his  life;  but  these  had  no 
effect  in  intimidating  him,  or  in  changing  his  conduct.  He  went  on 
fearlessly  to  administer  the  law,  which  at  that  time,  instead  of  impris- 
onment, inflicted  severe  corporal  punishments  for  many  crimes  most 
common  in  a  new  country.  These  were  branding  with  a  hot  iron  in 
the  hand  or  on  the  cheek,  whipping  on  the  bare  back,  and  public 
exposure  in  the  pillory.  Not  a  court  went  by  without  some  one  of 
these  punishments  being  inflicted  upon  a  male  malefactor.  Public 
opinion  had  begun  to  look  upon  these  penalties  as  barbarous,  and  in 
very  many  cases  great  sympathy  was  manifested  for  the  culprit. 

This  sentiment  frequently  operated  with  the  jury,  who  were  disposed 
to  deal  leniently  with  the  accused.  This  was  resisted  by  Poindexter, 
and  effectually  —  for  so  clearly  did  he  impress  the  minds  of  jurors 
with  what  was  their  duty,  that  few  escaped  where  the  proof  was  suffi- 
cient to  convict ;  and  once  pronounced  guilty,  the  extreme  penalty 
of  the  law  was  surely  awarded.  The  beneficial  influence  of  this  stern 
and  inflexible  administration  of  the  laws  was  soon  manifest,  and  the 
more  orderly  of  the  population  unhesitatingly  gave  their  approbation 
and  support  to  the  judge.  He  sustained  in  court  the  dignity  of  the 
Bench,  restraining  alike  the  license  of  the  Bar  and  the.  turbulence  of 
the  populace.  To  do  this,  he  was  frequently  compelled  to  exercise 
to  the  full  the  powers  of  his  office. 

An  amusing  anecdote  is  related  of  him  in  connection  with  the  dis- 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


337 


charge  of  these  duties.  When  holding  court  at  one  time  in  Natchez, 
he  had  sent  to  jail  a  turbulent  and  riotous  individual,  who  could  in 
no  other  way  be  restrained.  This  fellow,  once  incarcerated,  professed 
great  contrition,  and  humbly  petitioned  for  release,  but  Poindexter 
had  ordered  the  sheriff  to  keep  him  for  a  week,  and  could  not  be 
moved  from  his  position.  At  the  expiration  of  the  week  he  was 
released,  and  though  he  was  quiet  and  orderly,  he  remained  lurking 
about  town  and  the  court-room  until  the  adjournment  of  court.  He 
watched  his  opportunity,  and  meeting  the  judge  upon  the  street,  com- 
menced abusing  him  roundly;  finally  telling  him  he  had  waited  pur- 
posely for  the  opportunity  of  whipping  him,  and  that  he  intended 
then  and  there  to  do  so.  Poindexter,  perceiving  the  sheriff  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  street,  called  to  him,  and  ordered  him  to  open 
court  then  and  there,  which  in  all  due  form  the  sheriff  proceeded  to 
do.  The  bully  was  startled,  and  the  judge,  perceiving  this,  remarked 
to  him  authoritatively,  "  Now,  you  scoundrel,  be  off  with  yourself, 
or  I  will  put  you  in  jail  for  one  year !  "  —  when  the  blackguard 
speedily  decamped,  to  the  infinite  amusement  of  the  crowd  upon  the 
street. 

Governor  Poindexter  found  at  Natchez,  and  a  few  other  localities, 
strong  opposition  from  the  Federal  party,  then  constituted  almost 
entirely  of  emigrants  from  Western  Pennsylvania,  with  a  sprinkling 
from  the  more  Eastern  States.  The  party  was  small,  but  made  up 
for  this  deficiency  in  numbers  with  zeal  and  violence.  As  with 
all  heated  and  hating  partisans,  their  malevolence  was  principally 
directed  toward  the  leaders  of  the  opposing  party. 

Poindexter  was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  Republican  or  Jeffer- 
sonian  party,  and  concentrated  on  himself  the  hatred  of  one  and  the 
adoration  of  the  other  party.  His  triumphs  were  complete  and  over- 
whelming in  every  election.  He  was  not  scrupulous  in  the  use  of 
terms  when  speaking  of  his  enemies.  These  anathemas,  darting  in 
the  caustic  wit  and  voluble  sarcasm  so  peculiarly  his,  went  to  the 
mark,  and  kindled  hatred  into  fury.  It  was  determined  to  get  rid  of 
him.  His  denunciations  of  Abijah  Hunt,  a  prominent  merchant  and 
leading  Federalist,  being  more  pointed  and  personal  than  toward  any 
other,  it  seemed  incumbent  on  him  to  challenge  Poindexter  to  mortal 
combat — an  arbitrament  for  the  settlement  of  personal  difficulties 
more  frequently  resorted  to  at  that  period  than  at  the  present  time. 
They  met,  and  Hunt  was  killed.  But  such  was  the  violence  of  feeling 
29  W 


338  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

with  his  party  friends,  that  they  were  determined  Poindexter  should 
not  escape  unscathed,  and  he  was  denounced  as  having  fired  before 
the  word  agreed  upon  in  the  terms  of  the  conflict  were  fully  enun- 
ciated. This,  however,  effected  but  little,  and  he  continued  the  idol 
of  his  party. 

Unfortunately,  that  bane  of  genius,  dissipation,  was  poisoning  his 
habits  and  undermining  his  reputation.  It  seems  that  exalted  genius 
feeds  upon  excitement,  and  in  some  shape  must  have  it.  The  excite- 
ment of  active  business  at  the  Bar  or  in  the  halls  of  legislation 
must  of  necessity  be  temporary,  and  the  relaxation  which  follows 
this  is  terrible  to  the  excitable  temperament  of  ardent  genius.  It 
craves  restlessly  its  natural  food,  and  in  the  absence  of  all  others,  it 
seeks  for  this  in  the  intoxicating  bowl  or  the  gaming-table.  How 
many  brilliant  examples  of  this  fatal  fact  does  memory  call  up  from 
the  untimely  grave  ?  These,  culled  from  my  seniors  when  I  was  a 
youth,  from  my  compeers  in  early  manhood,  from  the  youth  I  have 
seen  grow  up  about  me,  make  a  host  whose  usefulness  has  been  lost 
to  the  world.  Well  may  the  poet  sing  in  melancholy  verse  that 
genius  is  a  fatal  gift.  It  dazzles  as  a  meteor  with  its  superhuman 
light,  and  as  soon  fades  into  darkness,  lighting  its  path  with  a  blaze 
of  glory,  astonishing  and  delighting  the  world,  but  consuming  itself 
with  its  own  fire. 

Poindexter  had  won  greatly  upon  the  affections  of  the  people  of 
the  Territory,  in  the  active  part  he  had  taken,  in  connection  with 
General  Ferdinand  Claiborne  and  General  Hinds,  in  stimulating  the 
people  to  prepare  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  war  of  1812  with 
Great  Britain.  Her  eastern  territory  was  exposed  to  the  inroads  of 
the  Creek  Indians,  a  large  and  warlike  tribe,  who  were  hostile  to  the 
United  States,  and  were  in  league  with  the  English,  and  being  armed 
by  them.  The  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  were  on  her  northern 
frontier,  and  were  threatening.  An  invasion  by  the  way  of  New 
Orleans  by  English  troops  was  hourly  expected.  It  required  great 
energy  and  activity  to  anticipate  and  guard  against  these  threatening 
dangers.  Poindexter  employed  his  time  and  his  influence  to  pre- 
pare the  people  to  act  efficiently  and  at  a  moment's  warning.  When 
the  threatened  invasion  became  a  reality,  and  General  Jackson  was 
descending  the  river  with  troops  as  the  American  commander,  and 
when  the  militia  were  on  the  ground,  and  nothing  remained  to  be 
done  in  Mississippi,  he  promptly  repaired  to  the  scene  of  action  and 


FIFTY     YEARS.  339 

volunteered  his  services  to  Jackson,  who,  accepting  them,  placed  him 
on  his  staff  as  a  volunteer  aide. 

In  this  capacity  he  continued  to  serve  until  the  end  of  the  cam- 
paign and  the  termination  of  the  war.  It  was  to  him  the  negro  or 
soldier  brought  the  celebrated  countersign  of  "Beauty  and  booty," 
found  on  the  battle-field,  and  which  he  carried  to  General  Jackson. 
His  enemies  laid  hold  of  this  incident  and  perverted  it  slanderously 
to  his  injury,  by  asserting  the  note  to  be  a  forgery  of  his,  done  for  the 
purpose  of  winning  favor  with  the  General,  and  to  cast  odium  upon 
an  enemy  incapable  of  issuing  such  an  infamous  countersign. 

Those  who  have  read  the  history  of  the  various  strongholds  of  the 
French  in  Spain  which  were  stormed  during  the  Peninsular  war,  will 
remember  these  were  the  same  troops  and  the  same  commanders, 
who  were  quite  capable  of  the  excesses  in  New  Orleans  that  they 
committed  in  Spain.  This  slander  was  never  traced  ;  but  there  were 
those  remaining  who,  when  the  breach  occurred  between  General 
Jackson  and  Governor  Poindexter,  asserted  that  General  Jackson 
believed  it,  and  who  circulated  industriously  the  contemptible  slan- 
der. Poindexter  was  an  active  supporter  of  General  Jackson's  first 
election.  He  believed  him  honest  and  capable,  and  deserving  of  the 
reward  of  the  Presidency  for  his  services  to  the  country.  He  thought, 
too,  that  he  would  bring  back  the  Government  to  its  early  simplicity 
and  purity,  and  administer  it  upon  strictly  republican  principles. 
He,  with  very  many  of  the  Jeffersonian  school,  felt  it  had  diverged 
from  the  true  track. 

These  people  were  opposed  to  protective  tariffs,  internal  improve- 
ments by  the  United  States  Government  within  the  limits  of  a  State 
without  the  consent  of  the  State,  and  a  national  bank,  deeming  all 
these  measures  unconstitutional.  The  constitutionality  of  the  bank 
had  been  affirmed  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  Poindexter  had 
acquiesced  in  the  decision.  Nevertheless,  as  a  senator  from  the 
State  of  Mississippi,  he  was  in  harmony  with  the  Administration  of  • 
Jackson,  until  Jackson  began  to  send  his  personal  friends  and  espe- 
cial favorites  from  Tennessee  to  fill  the  national  offices  located  in 
Mississippi.  Poindexter  felt  this  as  an  insult  to  his  State,  and  in  the 
case  of  Gwinn's  appointment  as  register  of  the  Land-Office  at  Clin- 
ton, Mississippi,  he  opposed  the  nomination  when  sent  to  the  Senate. 
He  was  successful  in  having  it  rejected. 

He  urged  that  though  the  office  was  national,  and  every  man  in  the 


340  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

nation  was  eligible  to  fill  it,  yet  it  was  due  to  the  State  that  the  incum- 
bent should  be  selected  from  her  own  people,  provided  she  could 
furnish  one  in  every  way  qualified,  and  that  it  was  a  reflection  upon 
the  people  of  his  State  to  fill  the  offices  within  her  borders  with 
aliens  to  her  soil  and  interests  —  strangers  to  her  people,  with  no 
motive  to  be  obliging  and  respectful  to  them  in  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  the  office ;  that  the  offices  belonged  to  the  people  and  not 
to  the  President,  and  it  was  respectful  to  the  people  of  a  State  to 
tender  to  her  people  these  offices,  as  had  been  heretofore  the  custom ; 
that  simply  being  the  President's  favorite  was  not  a  qualification 
for  office,  and  this  departure  from  the  established  usages  of  former 
Administrations  was  a  dangerous  precedent,  and  would  seem  to  estab- 
lish a  property  in  the  office,  belonging  to  the  President. 

This  opposition  enraged  Jackson,  who  denounced  Poindexter  and 
persisted  in  his  determination  to  give  the  office  to  Gwinn.  In  this  he 
finally  succeeded ;  but  most  unfortunately  for  Gwinn,  for  it  embroiled 
him  in  quarrels  with  the  citizens  of  the  State.  A  duel  with  Judge 
Caldwell  was  the  consequence,  in  which  both  fell.  Caldwell  died 
immediately ;  Gwinn  survived  to  suffer  intensely  for  a  few  months, 
when  death  relieved  him. 

The  people  of  Mississippi  were  intensely  devoted  to  General  Jack- 
son, and  in  the  mad  fury  of  partisan  zeal  forgot  everything  but  party, 
nor  permitted  themselves  for  a  moment  to  inquire  into  the  official 
conduct  of  any  political  partisan,  especially  that  of  the  President. 
Poindexter  had  been  unhappy  in  his  domestic  relations.  He  had 
separated  from  his  wife.  He  charged  her  with  infidelity ;  forgot  his 
affection  for  his  children,  and  threw  them  off,  because  he  doubted 
their  paternity.  In  the  agony  of  mind  consequent  upon  this  he 
became  desperate,  and  for  years  was  reckless  in  his  dissipations. 
His  wife's  friends  were  respectable  and  influential.  They,  with  every 
personal  and  political  enemy  he  had,  united  in  ascribing  to  him  all 
the  blame  in  this  matter. 

The  northern  portion  of  the  State  had  been  acquired  from  the 
Indians,  and  a  population  unacquainted  with  Poindexter  or  with  his 
services  to  the  State  was  crowding  into  the  new  Territory  in  such  num- 
bers as  threatened  politically  to  rule  the  State.  These  came  princi- 
pally from  the  West  and  South,  and  were  eminently  Jacksonian  iii 
their  politics.  Many  young  aspirants  for  fame  had  sprung  up  in  dif- 
ferent sections  of  the  State,  and  these  were  in  no  way  averse  to  seeing 


FIFTY   YEARS.  341 

an  old  and  talented  politician  shelved ;  and  they  joined  in  the  huzza 
for  Jackson  and  down  with  his  opponents. 

Seeing  and  feeling  the  tide  setting  in  so  strongly  as  to  sweep  every- 
thing before  it  except  what  comported  with  the  views  and  wishes  of 
General  Jackson,  and  feeling  also  that  he,  with  the  minority  in  the 
Senate,  could  be  of  no  possible  use  to  the  country,  and  beginning  to 
experience  the  pressure  of  age,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  senatorial 
term  he  made  no  effort  to  be  re-elected.  He  retired,  disgusted  with 
politics  forever,  and  temporarily  from  the  State.  Subsequently  an 
accident  fractured  both  his  legs  below  the  knee,  and  for  some  years 
he  was  unable  to  walk.  Prior  to  this  event  he  had  married  a  Boston 
lady  —  following  the  example  of  his  divorced  wife,  who  had  married 
a  Boston  gentleman.  With  this  lady  he  lived  affectionately  and  hap- 
pily. He  located  in  Lexington,  Kentucky,  where  he  remained  only 
a  few  years. 

It  was  here  I  saw  him,  at  his  own  house,  for  the  last  time — spend- 
ing an  evening  in  company  with  Daniel  Webster,  Henry  Clay,  John 
J.  Crittenden,  and  the  celebrated  actress,  Mrs.  Drake.  I  enjoyed 
the  hospitality,  the  wit,  and  a  game  of  whist  with  him.  He  soon 
became  weary  of  Lexington.  His  heart  was  in  Mississippi,  and 
thither  he  returned,  old  and  worn.  He  took  up  his  residence  at 
Jackson,  where  in  a  short  time  he  died,  and  is  buried  in  the  beauti- 
ful cemetery  at  that  place.  While  paying  a  pilgrimage  to  the  grave 
of  a  dear  boy  who  died  in  defence  of  Jackson  in  1866,  I  saw  and 
paused  at  the  modest  stone  which  marks  the  grave  of  Governor  Poin- 
dexter.  Memory  was  busy  with  the  past.  My  heart  was  sad.  I  had 
just  looked  upon  the  sod  which  covered  my  boy,  and,  thinking  of 
the  hours  passed,  long  years  ago,  with  him  who  was  sleeping  at  my 
feet,  I  could  not  repress  the  tear  due  and  dear  to  memory. 

Few  men  have  served  more  faithfully  and  more  efficiently  a  people 
than  did  George  Poindexter  the  people  of  Mississippi.  His  talents 
were  indisputably  of  the  first  order,  and,  whatever  may  have  been 
his  short  comings  morally,  none  can  say  his  political  life  was  stained 
with  selfishness  or  corruption.  Every  trust  reposed  in  him  was 
faithfully  and  ably  discharged,  and  to  him,  more  than  to  any  of 
her  public  servants,  is  she  indebted  for  the  proud  position  she  occu- 
pied before  the  tyrants'  heel  was  upon  her  neck. 

Few  men  can  rise  superior  to  the   crushing  effects  of  domestic 
infelicity:    man's  hopes,  man's  happiness,  all  centred  in  her  whom 
29* 


342  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

he  has  chosen  as  the  companion  of  his  life.  His  love  selects,  and 
his  love  centres  in  her.  The  struggle  for  fortune,  for  happiness,  for 
fame,  is  for  her ;  she  shares  every  success,  every  misfortune ;  and 
when  she  is  kind  and  affectionate,  there  he  meets  with  the  true 
manliness  of  an  honest  and  devoted  heart.  She  smooths  the  brow 
of  disappointment  and  sorrow,  rejoices  in  his  success,  and,  in  the 
fulness  of  her  confidence  and  affection,  aids  and  encourages  his 
exertions  and  enterprises.  This  reconciles  him  to  life,  and  life's 
cares,  troubles,  and  joys.  His  spirit  is  buoyant,  come  what  may ; 
for  there  is  an  angel  at  home,  and  there  is  happiness  with  her :  she 
is  the  mother  of  his  children ;  she  unites  with  him  in  love  and  exer- 
tions for  the  benefit  of  these.  They  are  one  in  these,  and  with 
every  birth  there  is  a  new  link  to  bind  and  gladden  two  hearts. 
Without  the  virtuous  love  of  woman,  man  is  a  miserable  being, 
worthless  to  himself  and  useless  to  his  kind.  But  when  the  heart's 
wealth  is  given  to  one  who  has  no  sympathy  with  it,  and  gives  only 
in  return  coldness  and  hate  ;  who  betrays  every  confidence  and  dis- 
appoints every  hope ;  who  is  only  happy  when  he  is  miserable,  and 
refuses  the  generous  aid  a  wife  owes  to  his  exertions ;  who  rejoices 
in  his  failures,  and  intrigues  to  produce  them,  and  weeps  over  his 
successes  with  the  bitterness  of  disappointment ;  who  hates  her  off- 
spring, because  they  resemble  their  father ;  who  spurns  his  caresses, 
and  turns  away  from  his  love  —  then  life's  hopes  are  blighted,  and 
all  is  black  before.  His  energies  die  out  with  his  hopes;  the  goad- 
ing thought  is  eternally  present ;  he  shrinks  away  from  society,  and 
in  solitude  and  obscurity  hides  him  from  the  world  —  which  too  often 
condemns  him  as  the  architect  of  all  his  misery. 

"  Oh,  a  true  woman  is  a  treasure  beyond  price,  but  a  false  one 
the  basest  of  counterfeits." 


FIFTY     YEARS.  343 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

THE    SILVER-TONGUED    ORATOR. 

JOHN  A.  QUITMAN  —  ROBERT  J.  WALKER  —  ROBERT  H.  ADAMS  — FROM  A 
COOPER  -  SHOP  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE  —  BANK  MONOPOLY  — 
NATCHEZ  FENCIBLES  —  SCOTT  IN  MEXICO  —  THOMAS  HALL  — SARGENT  S. 
PRENTISS  —  VICKSBURG  —  SINGLE  -  SPEECH  HAMILTON  —  GOD  -  INSPIRED 
ORATORY  —  DRUNK  BY  ABSORPTION  —  KILLING  A  TAILOR  —  DEFENCE  OF 
WILKINSON. 

JOHN  A.  QUITMAN  came  to  Mississippi  in  early  life.  He 
was  a  native  of  the  State  of  New  York  ;  had,  at  first,  selected  a 
location  in  Ohio,  but,  not  being  pleased,  he  determined  on  com- 
ing South,  and  selected  Natchez  for  his  future  home.  His  father  was 
a  Prussian ;  a  minister  of  the  German  Lutheran  Church,  and  a  very 
learned  man.  He  had  preached  in  seven  kingdoms,  and  in  every 
one  in  the  language  of  the  country.  He  came  to  the  State  of  New 
York  when  young,  and  was  the  bearer  of  the  recognition  of  the 
independence  of  the  United  States  by  Frederick  the  Great,  of  Prus- 
sia. He  settled  in  one  of  the  interior  counties  of  New  York,  where 
was  born  and  reared  his  distinguished  son. 

When  young  Quitman  came  to  Natchez,  he  found  the  Bar  a  strong 
one ;  but  determined  to  follow  the  profession  of  law,  and  after  a 
short  time  spent  in  the  office  of  William  B.  Griffith,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  Bar,  and  opened  an  office.  Regardless  of  the  overwhelming 
competition,  his  open,  frank  manners  soon  made  him  friends,  and 
the  stern  honesty  of  his  character  won  the  confidence  of  every  one. 
In  a  short  time,  he  married  the  only  daughter  of  Henry  Turner,  a 
wealthy  planter,  and  was  received  into  copartnership  by  William  B. 
Griffith,  a  lawyer  of  great  ability  and  eminence,  then  in  full  practice 
at  Natchez,  and  who  had  married  the  daughter  of  Judge  Edward 
Turner,  and  the  cousin  of  Quitman's  wife.  Quitman's  rise  to  emi- 
nence was  rapid  in  his  profession,  but  more  so  in  the  public  estima- 
tion as  a  man  of  great  worth.  His  affability,  kindness,  and  courtesy 
were  so  genial  and  so  unaffected  as  to  fasten  upon  every  one,  and 
soon  he  was  the  most  popular  man  in  the  county. 

Soon  after  Quitman,  came  Duncan  and  Robert  J.  Walker  —  the 


544  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

latter  subsequently  so  distinguished  as  a  senator  in  Congress  from 
Mississippi,  and  still  more  distinguished  as  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  during  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Polk.  A  close  intimacy 
grew  up  between  Quitman  and  R.  J.  Walker.  This  intimacy  influ- 
enced greatly  the  future  of  Quitman.  Walker  was  from  Pennsylvania, 
and  had  married  Miss  Bache,  the  niece  of  George  M.  Dallas,  sister 
to  the  great  Professor  Bache,  and  great-granddaughter  of  Benjamin 
Franklin.  Mrs.  Walker  was  a  lady  of  great  beauty,  of  rare  accom- 
plishments, and  distinguished  for  her  modesty  and  womanly  bearing. 
Mr.  Bache,  the  father  of  Mrs.  Walker,  emigrated  to  Texas,  was  in 
the  Senate  of  her  Congress  at  the  time  she  was  received  into  the 
United  States,  and  was  the  only  man  who  voted  against  the  union. 
He  represented  Galveston,  and,  after  his  death,  that  young  city,  in 
honor  of  his  services,  erected  a  monument  to  his  memory. 

Walker  was  of  ardent  temperament,  great  abilities,  strong  will, 
intense  application,  and  was  soon,  at  the  Bar,  among  the  first  law- 
yers in  the  State.  He  wanted  the  softness  and  genial  qualities  of 
Quitman,  but  was  superior  to  him  mentally;  and  in  prompt,  decisive 
action  his  was  the  stronger  character,  and  controlled.  Quitman, 
being  intimately  associated  with  the  leading  men  of  the  party  sup- 
porting Mr.  Adams,  had  adopted  their  opinions  and  politics; 
Walker  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  Jackson,  and  claimed  to  be  the 
first  man  who  brought  forward  his  name  for  the  Presidency,  when  he 
was  a  citizen  of  Pennsylvania.  Soon  after  the  election  of  General 
Jackson,  Quitman,  displeased  with  Mr.  Clay,  abandoned  his  Whig 
associates,  and  united  himself  with  the  Democratic  party,  and  from 
that  time  until  his  death  was  a  devoted  Democratic  partisan.  These 
two  men  exercised,  perhaps,  more  influence  in  the  State  than  any 
others  of  their  day. 

Robert  H.  Adams  and  William  B.  Griffith,  who  were  considered 
the  ablest  members  of  the  Bar  in  the  State,  died  young,  and  in  the 
opening  of  their  political  career.  Adams  was  a  man  of  remarkable 
ability.  He  was  a  native  of  East  Tennessee,  and  was  a  mechanic, 
with  limited  education,  and  without  one  single  advantage  save  his 
talents.  He  came  a  stranger  to  Natchez,  and  in  a  few  years  was 
eminent  in  his  profession,  and  intellectually  one  of  the  first  men  in 
the  State — a  man  of  fine  appearance,  with  large  head,  and  intellectual 
features.  He  was  sent  by  the  city  of  Natchez  to  the  Legislature  of 
the  State,  and  such  was  the  impression  upon  the  members  of  his  great 


FIFTY     YEARS.  345 

abilities,  that  they,  at  the  ensuing  session,  elected  him  to  the  United 
States  Senate.  He  served  but  one  session,  but  made,  in  that  short, 
period,  a  high  reputation  with  the  first  minds  of  the  nation.  Returning 
home,  he  resumed  his  profession ;  and,  after  severe  fatigue  during  the 
heated  period  of  summer,  he  imprudently  drank  too  freely  of  ice- 
water,  and  died  'from  its  effects. 

There  was,  at  this  time,  no  man  of  more  promise  in  all  the  coun- 
try. He  was  but  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  and,  without  patronage  or 
patrimony,  had  risen  from  the  cooper's  shop  to  a  distinguished  posi- 
tion in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

Griffith  preceded  him  to  the  grave  one  or  two  years,  a  victim  of 
yellow  fever. 

Quitman  and  Walker  came  now  prominently  before  the  people. 
They  resided  in  Natchez,  and  there  was  a  strong  prejudice  in  the 
east  and  the  north  of  the  State  against  the  people  of  that  city  and 
the  County  of  Adams.  There  were  quite  a  number  of  families,  in  the 
city  and  county,  of  large  fortunes.  These  were  exclusive  in  their 
associations.  With  one  or  two  exceptions  they  belonged  to  the  Whig 
party,  but  none  of  them  aspired  to  political  preferment. 

There  was  but  one  bank  in  the  State  —  this  was  located  in  Natchez, 
and  was  under  the  control  of  these  men  of  fortune.  It  had  at  the 
time  of  obtaining  its  charter  paid  an  extravagant  bonus  to  the  State, 
upon  condition  no  other  bank  should  be  chartered  for  the  period 
granted  to  this.  It  was  a  monopoly,  and  was  charged  with  great 
partiality  in  its  management.  Its  accommodations  were  for  the  few, 
and  these  only  granted  for  the  purpose  of  enhancing  the  already 
bloated  wealth  of  the  stockholders,  directors,  and  their  special  pets. 
This  exclusive  aristocracy  was  odious  to  the  fierce  democratic  feel- 
ings of  the  masses.  They  counted  their  wealth  by  millions ;  their 
homes  were  palaces  ;  their  pleasure-grounds  Edens  ;  and  all  this  was 
the  fruit  of  an  odious  and  oppressive  monopoly.  This  fallacious  and 
most  ridiculous  idea  fastened  itself  upon  the  minds  of  the  masses, 
and  was  fostered  and  encouraged  by  many  who  knew  better,  but  who 
were  willing  to  pander  to  the  popular  taste  for  popular  preferment. 
R.  J.  Walker  seized  hold  upon  this  popular  whim,  and  leading  the 
multitude,  succeeded  in  procuring  charters  for  several  other  banks, 
in  defiance  of  the  vested  rights  of  the  Bank  of  Mississippi. 

Stephen  Duncan  was  the  president  of  the  bank,  and,  under  his 
advice,  the  directors  surrendered  the  charter,  and  wound  up  the 


346  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

business  of  the  bank.  Duncan  was  one  of  the  best  business-men  in 
.the  Union.  From  very  small  beginnings  he  had  amassed  an  immense 
fortune  — was  a  man  of  rare  sagacity  and  wonderful  energy.  He  was 
the  cousin  of  Walker,  but  was  always  opposed  to  him  in  politics. 
This  was  the  commencement  of  the  era  which  culminated  in  the 
repudiation  of  the  State's  obligations  and  the  general  ruin  of  her 
people.  It  was  about  this  period  that  Jefferson  Davis  first  made  his 
dtbut  as  a  public  man  in  the  State,  with  William  M.  Gwinn,  and 
Henry  S.  Foote,  McNutt,  J.  F.  H.  Claiborne,  and  Albert  Gallatin 
Brown.  Quitman  was  made  chancellor  of  the  State,  and  disappointed 
sadly  his  friends.  His  administration  of  this  branch  of  the  judiciary 
was  weak  and  wild ;  a  vast  number  of  his  decisions,  or  awards  in 
chancery,  were  overruled,  and,  in  disgust,  or  from  a  consciousness 
that  a  chancery  judgeship  was  not  his  speciality,  resigned.  His  mind 
was  greatly  overrated :  it  was  neither  strong,  logical,  nor  brilliant. 
His  classical  attainments  were  of  the  first  order,  and  I  doubt  if  the 
Union  furnished  two  better  or  more  finished  linguists  than  John  A. 
Quitman  and  H.  S.  Foote. 

Walker  and  Davis  were  the  leading  minds  of  the  period.  They 
were  both  men  of  education,  extended  reading ;  both  men  of  fine 
oratorical  powers ;  both  men  of  strong  will,  ripe  judgment,  and 
exceedingly  tenacious  of  purpose.  Walker  was  many  years  the  senior 
of  Davis,  and  was  in  advance  of  him  some  years  as  a  successful  poli- 
tician. Foote,  as  an  orator,  was  greatly  the  superior  of  all  of  these ; 
but  there  was  in  him  want  of  judgment,  want  of  fixed  principles  and 
fixity  of  purpose.  When  first  appearing  before  the  people  of  the 
State,  he  carried  the  multitude  with  him  as  a  tempest  drives  a  feather. 
In  a  contest  for  Governor  he  came  out  in  opposition  to  Quitman, 
drove  him  from  the  canvass,  and  triumphed  over  Davis,  who  was 
placed  by  his  party  in  nomination  to  fill  the  place  of  Quitman.  This 
triumph  was  evanescent :  he  left  the  position,  perhaps,  the  most  un- 
popular man  in  the  State. 

Quitman's  abilities  were  almost  exclusively  military.  This  pro- 
clivity of  mind  manifested  itself  in  very  early  life.  He  organized  a 
volunteer  company,  the  Natchez  Fencibles,  soon  after  he  came  to  the 
Bar,  and  took  great  pride  in  its  drill  and  soldierly  bearing  and 
appearance.  He  seized  with  avidity  the  opportunity  the  Mexican 
war  presented,  and  there  greatly  distinguished  himself.  After  the 
termination  of  this  war,  he  was  engaged  (very  little  to  the  honor  of 


FIFTY     YEARS.  347 

his  sagacity)  in  endeavoring  to  organize  a  filibustering  expedition 
against  the  Island  of  Cuba.  In  this  he  signally  failed.  He  was 
elected  to  Congress,  where  he  was  principally  distinguished  by  his 
extreme  Southern  views,  but  gained  little  or  no  reputation  as  a  poli- 
tician or  statesman. 

In  the  qualities  of  heart,  Quitman  was  surpassed  by  no  man ;  his 
moral  character  was  unstained.  In  sincerity  and  devotion  to  his 
friends,  no  man  was  his  superior.  He  had  acquired  large  wealth  by 
his  marriage  —  this  he  had  increased  by  judicious  management,  and 
none  more  freely  used  it  for  the  benefit  of  his  friends  or  the  public 
interest.  He  was  especially  generous  toward  poor,  enterprising 
young  men ;  such  instances  of  assistance  rendered  are  innumerable. 
His  friends  never  deserted  him.  To  his  command,  during  the  Mexi- 
can war,  he  was  exceedingly  profuse  with  his  means  in  aiding  their 
necessities  and  supplying  their  wants.  He  was  universally  com- 
mented upon  as  the  most  munificent  officer  of  the  army.  He  was 
ambitious  and  courageous ;  and  this  ambition  knew  no  bounds. 

Upon  his  return  from  Mexico,  I  met  him  in  New  Orleans,  in  com- 
pany with  that  ill-starred  man,  General  Shields,  of  Illinois,  and  who, 
Irishman  as  he  was,  fell  fighting  to  fasten  upon  the  South  the  fetters 
she  now  wears.  We  had  not  conversed  ten  minutes  before,  taking 
my  arm,  he  walked  apart  from  his  visitors  and  Shields,  and  com- 
menced to  converse  upon  the  consequences  of  the  war.  Turning  to 
me,  he  remarked  :  "  General  Scott  is  greatly  wanting  in  ambition, 
he  has  no  daring  aspirations ;  he  has  thrown  away  the  finest  oppor- 
tunity ever  presented  to  man  for  aggrandizement.  Had  I  com- 
manded the  army,  and  accomplished  this  great  success,  I  would 
have  established  an  empire,  and  made  of  Mexico  a  great  nation. 
He  had  only  to  say  so,  and  the  Mexicans  were  ready  to  crown 
him  emperor.  He  could  have  made  dukes,  marquises,  lords,  and 
barons  of  his  officers,  and  endowed  them  with  principalities;  the 
soldiers  would  have  remained  with  him ;  and  in  six  months,  enough 
from  the  United  States  and  Europe  would  have  joined  his  standard, 
to  have  held  in  check  the  lawless  brigands  who  make  anarchy  for  the 
country.  The  spoils  of  the  Church  would  have  rewarded  the  sol- 
diers ;  immigration  would  have  poured  into  the  country,  and  his  name 
and  fame  have  been  commensurate  with  time.  Everything  invited 
him  to  the  act ;  he  could  not  or  would  not  see  it  —  he  had  but  one 
idea,  '  This  will  make  me  President ! '  and  a  lifetime  of  glory  and 


348  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

power  was  sacrificed  for  the  empty  hope  of  four  years  filling  the 
Presidential  chair." 

It  was  a  grand  conception,  but  he  seemed  to  take  no  account  of 
the  difficulties  which  would  have  interposed.  He  assumed  that  the 
United  States  would  have  been  content  with  the  great  outrage,  and 
have  sanctioned  the  act ;  and  that  European  nations  would  have 
immediately  recognized  the  new  empire.  I  knew  him  well  enough 
to  know  that  he  would  have  attempted  the  enterprise  and  braved 
the  consequences ;  but  doubt  whether  he  or  Scott  had  the  talent  for 
the  accomplishment  of  such  an  undertaking.  General  Quitman  was 
one  of  the  unfortunates  who  received  a  portion  of  the  poison  pre- 
pared for  some  victim  or  victims  at  Washington  upon  the  inaugura- 
tion of  Mr.  Buchanan.  It  was  not  immediately  fatal,  but  he  never 
fully  recovered  from  it,  and  in  a  few  months  after  sank  into  the 
grave. 

No  man  ever  died  more  regretted  by  his  personal  friends  than 
John  A.. Quitman.  He  was  in  every  relation  of  life  a  true  man, 
chivalrously  brave,  nobly  generous,  and  sternly  faithful  to  all  that 
ennobles  human  nature.  Had  his  brain  been  equal  to  his  soul,  he 
had  been  the  world's  wonder.  It  was  said  of  him  by  one  who  knew 
and  loved  him : 


"  His  spirit  has  gone  to  the  Spirit  that  made  him, 

The  rest  of  the  virtuous,  chivalric,  and  brave ; 
He  sleeps  where  the  friends  of  his  early  youth  laid  him, 
And  green  grows  the  laurel  that  springs  by  his  grave." 

Duncan  Walker  practised  law  with  his  brother  until  elevated  to 
the  Bench  of  the  criminal  court  for  the  city  of  Natchez  and  County 
of  Adams.  He  served  with  distinguished  capacity  for  only  one  or 
two  years,  when  he  was  prostrated  by  a  severe  attack  of  yellow  fever. 
From  this  he  never  entirely  recovered.  Retiring  from  the  Bench,  he 
directed  his  attention  to  planting  in  Lower  Louisiana ;  but  his  health 
continuing  to  decline,  he  was  induced  to  try  for  the  winter  the 
climate  of  Cuba.  It  was  but  a  few  weeks  after  reaching  there  that 
he  died  at  St.  Jago  de  Cuba.  Judge  Walker  was  distinguished  for 
great  purity  of  character  as  well  as  superior  legal  attainments.  His 
modesty  was  almost  feminine;  yet  he  was  a  man  of  remarkable  firm- 
ness and  decision.  By  many  he  was  thought  superior  intellectually 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


349 


to  his  more  distinguished  and  prominent  brother.  Few  men  may  be 
truthfully  termed  superior  to  R.  J.  Walker. 

In  1826,  there  came  to  Natchez,  from  Maine,  a  youth  who  was  a 
cripple.  He  was  without  acquaintances  or  recommendations,  and 
also  without  means.  He  was  in  search  of  a  school,  and  expressed 
his  intention  of  making  the  South  his  future  home.  His  appearance 
was  boyish  in  the  extreme,  for  one  who  professed  to  be  twenty  years 
of  age.  At  that  time  most  of  the  planters  in  the  region  of  Natchez 
employed  private  teachers  in  their  families,  who  resided  with  the 
family  as  one  of  the  household.  A  lady  near  Natchez,  the  widow 
of  Judge  Shields,  was  desirous  of  employing  a  teacher,  and  tendered 
the  situation  to  the  young  Yankee.  Mrs.  Shields  had  grown-up  sons, 
young  men  of  fine  attainments,  and  who  subsequently  distinguished 
themselves  as  men  of  sterling  worth.  They  were  soon  delighted  with 
the  young  stranger,  who  was  busily  employed  in  his  new  vocation 
with  their  younger  brothers.  I  remember  to  have  heard  Mr.  Thomas 
Shields  say  the  young  man  teaching  at  his  mother's  was  a  most 
remarkable  man,  and  narrate  some  instances  of  his  great  powers  of 
memory,  accompanied  with  facts  which  came  within  his  own  knowl- 
edge. These  were  so  very  extraordinary,  that  notwithstanding  the 
high  character  for  integrity  borne  by  Shields,  there  were  many  who 
doubted  them. 

There  lived  at  no  great  distance  from  Mrs.  Shields,  a  planter,  Mr. 
Thomas  Hall.  This  man  was  a  coarse  and  illiterate  overseer  for 
some  years  in  the  county,  but  having  carefully  husbanded  his  earn- 
ings, was  enabled,  in  company  with  James  C.  Wilkins,  to  commence 
planting  upon  an  extensive  scale.  At  the  time  this  young  man  was 
teaching  at  Mrs.  Shields',  Hall  had  accumulated  quite  a  fortune,  and 
was  a  man  of  comparative  leisure.  His  mind  was  good,  and  now 
that  he  had  an  abundance  of  the  world's  goods,  and  was  becoming  a 
man  of  consideration  in  the  community,  he  felt,  in  his  intercourse 
with  his  educated  neighbors,  the  want  of  that  cultivation  which  would 
make  him  their  equal.  This  had  made  him  morbidly  sensitive,  and 
whenever  an  opportunity  presented,  he  improved  it  in  acquiring  all 
the  information  possible. 

On  Saturdays  the  young  schoolmaster  would  frequently  ride  over 

and  converse  with  Hall.     The  strong  mind  and  coarse  but  cordial 

manners  of  Hall  pleased  him.     He  was  a  specimen  of  the  Southerner 

possessing  sal  ient  points,  and  was  a  study  for  the  Down-Easter.    Never 

3° 


350  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

before  had  lie  met  such  a  specimen,  and  it  was  his  delight  to  draw 
him  out,  little  deeming  he  was  filling  the  same  office  for  his  friend. 
They  were  mutually  agreeable  the  one  to  the  other,  and  their  asso- 
ciation grew  into  intimacy.  Each  to  their  friends  would  speak  of 
the  other  as  a  remarkable  man.  Assuredly  they  were ;  for  neither 
had  ever  met  such  specimens  as  they  presented  to  each  other.  They 
sometimes  joined  in  a  squirrel-hunt  about  the  plantation  of  Hall. 
The  schoolmaster's  lameness  compelled  him  to  ride,  while  Hall  pre- 
ferred to  walk.  After  a  fatiguing  tramp  upon  one  occasion,  they  sat 
down  upon  the  banks  of  Cole's  Creek,  where  Hall  listened  with  great 
delight  to  the  conversation  of  his  companion.  Suddenly  Hall  started 
up,  and  exclaimed,  with  more  than  his  usual  warmth : 

".You  have  taught  me  more  than  I  ever  knew  before  meeting 
with  you ;  but  I  ought  not  to  say  what  I  am  going  to  say.  You,  sir, 
were  never  made  for  a  schoolmaster.  By  the  eternal  God  ! " —  Hall 
was  a  Jackson  man — "you  know  more  than  any  man  in  the  county,  and 
you  have  got  more  sense  than  any  of  them,  though  you  are  nothing 
but  a  boy.  Now,  sir,  go  to  town  and  study  law  with  Bob  Walker  ; 
he 's  the  smartest  of  any  of  them.  In  two  years  you  will  be  ahead 
of  him.  If  you  have  n't  got  the  money  to  pay  your  way,  I  have, 
and  you  shall  have  it." 

The  term  for  which  he  had  engaged  was  now  expiring,  and,  as 
Hall  had  requested,  he  went  into  the  office  of  Robert  J.  and  Dun- 
can Walker,  and  commenced  the  study  of  law. 

This  Yankee  youth  was  Sargent  S.  Prentiss.  Prentiss  remained  in 
the  office  of  Walker  for  one  year,  and  was  a  close  student.  When 
admitted  to  the  Bar,  he  went  to  Vicksburg  and  opened  an  office.  At 
that  time  Vicksburg  was  a  new  place,  and  presented  peculiar  induce- 
ments to  young  professional  men.  The  country  upon  the  Yazoo 
River  —  and  indeed  the  entire  northern  portion  of  the  State  —  had 
but  recently  been  quit  of  its  Indian  population,  and  was  rapidly  fill- 
ing up  with  an  active  and  enterprising  people.  The  soil  was  fer- 
tile, and  the  production  of  cotton,  to  which  it  is  so  eminently  suited, 
was  daily  growing  in  importance.  Vicksburg  was  the  market-point. 
Trade  was  increasing  daily,  and  rapidly  filling  up  the  town  with  mer- 
cantile men.  The  young  and  enterprising  were  hurrying  thither, 
and  in  a  few  years  there  was  met  here  more  talent  and  more  enter- 
prise than  at  any  other  point  in  the  State.  The  Bar  had  Prentiss,  John 
Guion,  McNutt,  Sharkey,  the  three  Yergers,  Anderson,  Lake,  Brook, 


FIFTY    YEARS.  35! 

Burwell,  and  many  others  of  distinction,  including  the  erratic  H.  S. 
Foote. 

The  entire  population  was  a  live  one,  and  every  branch  of  business 
was  pushed  with  a  vim  commensurate  with  the  abilities  and  enter- 
prise of  the  population.  The  planters  of  the  immediately  adjacent 
country  were  men  of  intelligence  and  character,  and  were  animated 
with  the  spirit  of  the  people  of  the  town,  forming  on  the  whole  a 
community  of  almost  reckless  enterprise.  It  was  at  such  a  time  and 
in  the  midst  of  such  a  people  that  young  Prentiss  had  made  his  selec- 
tion of  a  home,  and  a  field  for  the  future  exercise  of  his  professional 
abilities. 

Young,  ardent,  and  ambitious,  he  sought  to  rival  his  seniors  at  the 
Bar.  Unwilling  to  wait  on  time,  he  aspired  to  leap  at  once  to  this 
equality.  It  was  the  daring  of  genius,  and  of  a  genius  which  counted 
as  only  a  stimulant  the  obstacles  intervening.  To  grapple  with  giants, 
such  as  he  found  in  Guion,  Yerger,  Sharkey,  McNutt,  and  Lake, 
would  have  intimidated  a  less  bold  and  daring  mind ;  but  Prentiss 
courted  the  conflict  con  amorc,  and  applying  all  his  herculean  powers 
with  the  vigor  of  youth  and  the  ardency  of  enterprise,  he  soon  found 
himself  quite  equal  to  any  competitor. 

When  an  infant,  a  fever  settled  in  his  leg,  causing  it  to  wither  from 
the  knee  to  the  foot,  and  doomed  him  through  life  to  lameness. 
Like  Byron,  he  was  sensitive  upon  the  subject  of  this  physical  defect. 
It  was  a  serious  obstacle  to  his  locomotion,  and  in  speaking  com- 
pelled a  sameness  of  position  injurious  to  the  effect  of  his  oratory. 
Scarcely  had  two  years  elapsed  from  the  time  of  his  admission  to  the 
Bar  before  his  fame  as  a  lawyer  and  advocate  was  filling  the  State. 
His  business  had  increased  to  such  an  extent  as  to  require  his  undi- 
vided attention,  as  he  was  employed  in  almost  every  important  suit 
in  that  section  of  the  State.  His  qualities  of  heart  were  as  conspicu- 
ous as  those  of  his  brain,  which  had  endeared  him  to  the  people  of 
Vicksburg  perhaps  more  than  any  other  citizen.  This  social  and 
professional  popularity  caused  him  to  be  elected  to  the  Legislature  of 
the  State.  He  belonged  to  the  Whig  party,  which  was  largely  in 
the  minority  in  the  Legislature,  but  was  powerful  in  talent. 

Before  this  time,  Colonel  Adam  L.  Bingaman,  of  Adams  County, 
had  been  the  acknowledged  leader  of  this  party.  He  was  a  man  of 
rare  qualifications  for  a  popular  leader  —  highly  gifted  by  nature  in 
mind  and  personal  appearance,  which  was  most  splendid  and  com- 


352  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

manding,  with  a  polished  education  and  fascinating  manners,  and  by 
nature  an  orator.  Added  to  these  advantages,  he  was  a  native  of  the 
State,  the  representative  of  great  wealth,  and  with  extensive  family 
influence.  These  two  met  as  friends  personally  and  politically  in  the 
Legislature. 

Prentiss  —  though  known  as  a  great  lawyer  and  a  powerful  advo- 
cate at  the  Bar  —  had  until  now  taken  but  little  part  in  politics. 
None  knew  of  his  proficiency  as  a  politician  or  as  a  popular  political 
orator,  and,  long  accustomed  to  the  eloquence  and  the  debating  abil- 
ities of  Bingaman,  the  lead  was  accorded  to  him  as  usual.  Party 
excitement  was  fierce,  and  involved  every  one.  The  Democracy, 
armed  with  numbers  and  men  of  great  abilities,  felt  secure  in  their 
position.  They  had  no  fears  that  any  powers  possessed  by  any  man 
or  set  of  men  could  operate  a  change  in  public  opinion  dangerous 
to  their  supremacy  in  the  State. 

Socially,  Prentiss  knew  no  party  distinction.  With  all  who  were 
gentlemen  he  mingled,  not  as  a  partisan,  but  as  a  man.  The  kind- 
ness of  his  nature  won  upon  all  equally,  and  it  was  soon  discovered 
that  a  personal  favor  to  Prentiss  would  sometimes  override  party  alle- 
giance. His  personal  friends  were  all  gentlemen,  and  once  within 
the  magic  influence  of  his  social  circle  was  enough  to  bind  him  to 
the  heart  of  every  one.  The  session  had  made  but  little  progress 
before  his  powers  as  an  orator  were  beginning  to  be  felt. 

During  an  exciting  debate,  in  which  Bingaman  had,  as  usual,  taken 
the  lead,  when  all  the  ablest  of  the  Democracy  had,  as  they  supposed, 
exhausted  the  argument  and  demolished  the  position  of  their  ad- 
versaries, and  the  House  seemed  impatient  for  the  question,  Prentiss 
rose,  and  claimed  the  attention  of  the  chair.  His  clear  and  succinct 
statement  of  the  pending  question  put  a  new  phase  upon  it,  and  the 
House  seemed  surprised. 

He  proceeded  then  to  debate  the  question ;  and  very  soon  he  was 
in  medias  res,  and  his  bold  and  lucid  argument  won  the  attention 
of  every  one.  The  position  of  the  Democracy  was  dissected  to  the 
separation  of  every  fibre ;  its  character  and  future  effects  denounced 
and  exposed  in  a  strain  of  invective  eloquence  which  thrilled  to 
every  heart.  Turning  from  this  to  the  national  policy  of  the  Demo- 
cracy, then  in  power,  and  which  the  measure  under  consideration 
was  intended  to  aid  and  sustain,  his  powers  seemed  to  expand  with 
the  magnitude  of  the  subject,  as  he  went  on  to  analyze  the  policy  and 


FIFTY     YEARS.  353 

the  measures  of  the  Government,  and  to  demonstrate  the  disastrous 
consequences  which  must  follow  these  remotely,  if  not  immediately, 
corrupting,  undermining,  and  ultimately  destroying  the  Constitu- 
tion, and,  of  consequence,  the  Government.  He  spoke  for  three 
hours ;  his  peroration  was  so  grandly  eloquent  as  to  bring  down 
the  House  and  galleries  in  a  round  of  applause. 

From  that  day  forward,  Prentiss  was  the  great  man  of  the  House 
and  of  the  State.  A  fire  in  a  prairie  never  spread  or  ran  faster  than 
his  fame ;  it  was  on  every  tongue,  in  every  newspaper.  Such  fame 
from  one  speech  had  never  been  won  by  any  man  in  America,  save 
Patrick  Henry.  Single  -  speech  Hamilton,  of  the  .British  Parlia- 
ment, astonished  England  ;  but  he  was  never  afterward  heard  of,  and 
is  known  to  this  day  as  "single-speech  Hamilton."  As  with  Henry, 
this  was  but  the  beginning  of  a  fame  which  was  to  grow  and  expand 
into  giant  proportions.  Prentiss  was  now  a  national  man.  Soon 
after  this,  he  visited  Boston  and  New  York  during  an  exciting  poli- 
tical campaign.  Throughout  the  North,  wherever  he  appeared  and 
spoke,  he  bore  the  palm  from  every  rival. 

The  speech  of  Prentiss  in  Faneuil  Hall  will  long  be  remembered 
as  perhaps  the  finest  specimen  of  oratory  ever  listened  to  in  that 
venerable  hall.  It  was  at  the  time  said  by  the  men  of  the  North 
to  surpass  the  best  efforts  of  Fisher  Ames.  Subsequently  he  spoke 
in  New  York,  and  for  three  hours  held  spell-bound  an  immense 
audience. 

The  writer  was  informed  by  a  venerable  judge,  of  New  Jersey,  that 
he  had  never  believed  any  man  possessed  such  powers  of  oratory 
as  to  interest  him  and  chain  his  attention  for  that  length  of  time. 
Hearing  this  young  man  from  the  wilds  of  Mississippi  could  do  so, 
he  embraced  the  first  opportunity  of  hearing  him.  When  he  reached 
the  place,  he  found  the  assemblage  very  great,  and  with  difficulty  he 
succeeded  in  reaching  a  point  where  he  might  hear  well.  He  was 
unable  to  procure  a  seat,  and  was  compelled  to  stand,  thoroughly 
jammed  by  the  crowd.  He  took  out  his  watch  to  time  him,  as  he 
commenced,  and  noting  the  minute,  he  essayed  to  replace  his  watch : 
something  said  arrested  his  attention  and  his  hands  from  their  work 
of  putting  the  watch  in  its  fob. 

"  There  was  something,  sir,  in  his  eye,"  said  he,  "which  startled 
me,  and  then  the  words  came  bubbling  up  spontaneously  as  spring 
water,  so  full  of  power,  so  intensely  brilliant,  and  his  figures  so  bold, 
30*  X 


354  THE     MEMOR.IES     OF 

original,  and  illustrating,  and  the  one  following  the  other  in  such 
quick  succession  ;  the  flights  of  imagination,  so  new,  so* eloquent, 
and  so  heart-searching  —  that  I  found  it  impossible  to  take  my  eyes 
from  his  face,  or  my  ears  from  drinking  in  every  word.  At  one 
time,  so  intense  were  my  feelings  under  the  effect  of  his  words  and 
the  powerful  impression  they  were  making  on  my  mind,  that  I 
thought  I  should  faint.  I  forgot  the  presence  of  the  crowd,  and, 
though  seventy  years  of  age,  felt  no  fatigue  from  my  standing  posi- 
tion. In  truth,  sir,  I  was  unconscious  of  the  time  —  equally  so  of  the 
presence  of  any  one  but  the  speaker.  I  perceived  that  his  physical 
man  was  failing  under  his  effort,  and  so  intense  was  my  sympathy 
that  I  found  myself  breathing  rapidly  and  painfully ;  and  yet,  when 
he  exclaimed,  '  My  powers  fail ! '  and  sank  into  his  seat  completely 
exhausted,  I  regretted  the  necessity  which  compelled  him  to  stop. 
It  was  not  until  then  that  I  found  my  hand  still  holding  my  watch  at 
the  opening  of  its  pocket,  where,  in  my  excitement,  I  had  forgotten 
to  deposit  it.  I  looked,  and  I  had  been  standing  unmoved  in  the 
same  position  and  intently  listening  for  three  hours  and  fifteen 
minutes.  Near  me  stood  one  old  as  myself — a  friend,  a  neighbor, 
and  a  minister  of  the  gospel ;  he  was  livid  with  excitement,  and  his 
lips  trembled  as  he  said  to  me:  '  Will  you  ever  doubt  again  that  God 
inspires  man  ?  '  ' 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  Democratic  majority  in  the  State, 
the  Whigs  determined  to  run  Prentiss  for  Congress:  the  election,  at 
that  time,  was  by  general  ticket,  and  there  were  two  members  to  be 
elected:  the  Whig  nomination  was  Prentiss  and  Wood;  the  Demo- 
cratic, Claiborne  and  Gholson. 

Claiborne  was  a  native  of  the  State,  and  the  son  of  General  Ferdi- 
nand Claiborne,  a  young  man  of  very  superior  abilities,  and  at  the 
time  a  member  of  Congress.  McNutt  was  the  Democratic  candidate 
for  Governor.  The  campaign  was  a  most  animated  one,  and  Pren- 
tiss addressed  the  people  in  very  nearly  every  county  in  the  State ; 
the  people,  en  masse,  flocked  to  hear  him,  and  his  name  was  in  every 
mouth.  The  Democratic  nominees  did  not  attempt  to  meet  him  on 
the  stump.  His  march  through  the  State  was  over  the  heads  of  the 
people,  hundreds  following  him  from  county  to  county  in  his  ova- 
tion. McNutt  alone  attempted  to  meet  him  and  speak  with  him, 
and  he  only  once.  McNutt  was  a  Virginian,  and  was  a  man  of 
stupendous  abilities;  he  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and  was  Governor 


FIFTY    YEARS. 


355 


of  the  State.  Next  to  Poindexter,  he  was  the  ablest  man  who  ever 
filled  the  chair.  Unfortunately,  like  most  of  the  young  and  talented 
of  that  day  in  the  West,  he  was  too  much  addicted  to  the  intoxicating 
bowl.  Upon  the  only  meeting  of  these,  Prentiss  and  McNutt,  the 
latter,  in  his  speech,  urged  as  a  reason  for  the  rejection  or  defeat  of 
the  former  his  dissipated  habits,  admitted  his  great  abilities,  his 
masterly  genius,  pronounced  him  the  first  man  of  the  age  intellectu- 
ally, but  deplored  his  habits,  which  were  rendering  him  useless,  with 
all  his  genius,  learning,  and  eloquence. 

Prentiss,  in  reply,  said:  "My  fellow -citizens,  you  have  heard 
the  charge  against  my  morals,  sagely,  and,  I  had  almost  said,  soberly 
made  by  the  gentleman,  the  Democratic  nominee  for  the  chief  exe- 
cutive office  of  this  State :  had  I  said  this,  it  would  have  been  what 
the  lawyers  term  a  misnomer.  It  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  do 
or  say  anything  soberly,  for  he  has  been  drunk  ten  years;  not  yester- 
day, or  last  week,  in  a  frolic,  or,  socially,  with  the  good  fellows,  his 
friends,  at  the  genial  and  generous  board  —  but  at  home,  and  by 
himself  and  demijohn  ;  not  upon  the  rich  wines  of  the  Rhine  or  the 
Rhone,  the  Saone  or  the  Guadalquivir ;  not  with  high  -  spirited  or 
high-witted  men,  whose  souls,  when  mellowed  with  glorious  wine, 
leap  from  their  lips  sublimated  in  words  swollen  with  wit,  or 
thought  brilliant  and  dazzling  as  the  blood  of  the  grape  inspiring 
them — no;  but  by  himself:  selfish  and  apart  from  witty  men,  or 
ennobling  spirits,  in  the  secret  seclusion  of  a  dirty  little  back-room, 
and  on  corn-whiskey  !  —  these  only,  communing  in  affectionate  bro- 
therhood, the  son  of  Virginia  and  the  spirits  of  old  Kentucky ! 
Why,  fellow  -  citizens,  as  the  Governor  of  the  State,  he  refused  to 
sign  the  gallon-law  until  he  had  tested,  by  experiment,  that  a  gallon 
would  do  him  all  day  ! 

"  Now  I  will  admit,  fellow-citizens,  that  sometimes,  when  in  the 
enjoyment  of  social  communion  with  gentlemen,  I  am  made  merry 
with  these,  and  the  rich  wines  of  glorious  France.  It  is  then  I  enjoy 
the  romance  of  life.  Imagination,  stimulated  with  the  juice  of  the 
grape,  gave  to  the  world  the  Song  of  Solomon,  and  the  Psalms  of 
that  old  poet  of  the  Lord  —  glorious  old  David. 

"  The  immortal  verse  of  wandering  old  Homer,  the  blind  son  of 
Scio's  isle,  was  the  inspiration  of  Samian  wine;  and  good  old  Noah, 
too,  would  have  sung  some  good  and  merry  song,  from  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  juice  of  the  vine  he  planted,  but  having  to  wait  so  long, 


356  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

his  thirst,  like  the  Democratic  nominee's  here,  became  so  great,  that 
he  was  tempted  to  drink  too  deeply,  and  got  too  drunk  to  sing ;  and 
this,  I  fancy,  is  the  true  reason  why  this  distinguished  gentleman 
never  sings. 

"  Perhaps  there  is  no  music  in  his  soul.  The  glug-glug-glug  of  his 
jug,  as  he  tilts  and  pours  from  its  reluctant  mouth  the  corn-juice  so 
loved  of  his  soul,  is  all  the  music  dear  to  his  ear,  unless  it  be  the 
same  glug-glug-glug  as  it  disappears  down  his  capacious  throat. 
Now,  fellow-citizens,  during  this  ardent  campaign,  which  has  been 
so  fatiguing,  I  have  only  been  drunk  once.  Over  in  Simpson  County 
I  was  compelled  to  sleep  in  the  same  bed  with  this  distinguished 
nominee  —  this  delight  of  the  Democracy  —  this  wonderful  exponent 
of  the  principles  and  practices  of  the  unwashed  Democracy  —  and  in 
the  morning  I  found  myself  drunk  on  corn-whiskey.  I  had  lain 
too  close  to  this  soaked  mass  of  Democracy,  and  was  drunk  from 
absorption." 

This  was  more  than  the  Governor  could  stand,  and,  amidst  the 
shouts  and  laughter  of  the  assembled  multitude,  he  left  the  stand, 
and  declined  to  meet  again,  before  the  people,  the  young  Ajax  Tel- 
emon  of  the  Whig  party. 

The  memory  of  that  campaign  will  probably  never  be  forgotten 
in  Mississippi.  Mothers,  in  stories  of  Prentiss,  tell  it  now  to  their 
children,  and  it  and  he  have  become  a  tradition  of  the  early  days 
of  Mississippi.  The  election  terminated  in  the  choice  of  Prentiss  and 
Wood,  by  a  small  majority ;  but  the  certificate  was  given,  through 
the  basest  fraud,  to  Claiborne  and  Gholson. 

This  was  contested  before  the  House  of  Representatives  in  Con- 
gress assembled,  and  the  contestants  permitted  to  be  heard  on  the 
floor  of  the  House.  It  was  here,  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled 
wisdom  of  the  nation,  Prentiss  was  to  sustain  the  reputation  which 
had  preceded  him,  and  gloriously  did  he  do  it.  When  he  rose  to 
commence  his  speech,  all  was  silent,  and  every  face  expressed  deep 
and  excited  expectation.  The  unfortunate  deformity  of  his  leg  was 
forgotten,  in  viewing  the  noble  contour  of  his  head  and  face.  Young, 
and  for  the  first  time  in  such  a  presence  —  standing  there  the  imper- 
sonation of  the  State  of  Mississippi,  demanding  justice  for  her  at  the 
hands  of  the  nation  —  he  seemed  conscious  of  the  responsibility,  and 
confident  of  his  power  to  sustain  this.  There  was  little  preliminary 
in  his  remarks  opening  the  matter.  He  went  at  once,  and  as  a  strong 


FIFTY    YEARS  357 

man  conscious  of  the  right,  to  the  core.  He  demonstrated,  beyond 
a  doubt,  his  election,  and  proceeded  in  a  strain  of  burning  invective 
to  expose  the  fraud  of  the  returning  officer,  who  had  shamefully  dis- 
regarded the  popular  voice,  and  shamelessly  violated  the  law  he  was 
sworn  to  obey,  in  giving  the  certificate  to  his  defeated  competitors. 
Never  did  the  corruption  of  party  receive  so  severe  an  exposition,  or 
a  more  withering  rebuke,  than  in  this  speech. 

Very  soon  after  he  commenced,  the  Senate  chamber  was  deserted, 
and  the  Vice-President  and  Secretary  were  left  alone.  Webster, 
Benton,  Calhoun,  Clay,  Wright,  and  Evans  came  in  and  ranged 
themselves  near  him.  Every  space  large  enough,  in  the  chamber, 
lobby,  and  galleries,  was  filled  with  a  listener,  and  all  were  still  and 
unmoving,  however  painful  their  position,  until  the  enunciation  of 
the  last  word  of  that  wonderful  oration.  The  speech  occupied  two 
hours  and  forty  minutes,  and  the  peroration  was  thrilling.  When 
exhausted,  and  closing,  he  lifted  his  eyes  to  the  national  flag,  floating 
above  the  Speaker's  chair,  and  said,  in  an  almost  exhausted  voice, 
"If,  Mr.  Speaker,  in  obedience  to  the  necessities  and  corrupt  behest 
of  party,  you  are  determined  to  wrest  from  Mississippi  her  rights  as  a 
sister,  and  coequal  in  this  union  of  States,  and  turn  from  their  seats 
her  representatives  constitutionally  chosen,  and  place  in  their  stead 
the  repudiated  of  her  people,  strike  from  the  flag  which  waves  above 
you  the  star  which  represents  her  there ;  but  leave  the  stripes,  apt 
emblem  of  your  iniquity  and  her  degradation." 

An  adjournment  was  immediately  moved  ;  the  painful  excitement 
was  relieved,  the  spell  was  broken,  and  from  every  side,  and  from 
every  party,  came  men  to  congratulate  him.  Webster  was  the  first  to 
stretch  forth  his  hand,  and  with  more  animation  than  was  his  wont, 
said,  in  his  deep,  sonorous  tones,  "  New  England  claims  her  own, 
and  is  proud  of  her  son." 

The  House,  notwithstanding  the  demonstrative  proof,  and  its  en- 
forcement by  the  powerful  and  unanswerable  argument  of  Prentiss, 
sent  the  election  back  to  the  State,  to  be  determined  by  a  new  elec- 
tion. In  this,  Prentiss  and  Wood  were  triumphantly  elected.  He 
was  not  again  a  candidate,  retiring  for  the  time  from  politics,  and 
giving  his  undivided  attention  to  his  profession. 

It  was  always  a  matter  of  astonishment,  to  all  who  could  never 
make  of  a  political  enemy  a  personal  friend,  why  it  was  that  Prentiss, 
so  bitter  in  his  political  denunciations  of  political  partisans,  and  so 


358  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

bitter  a  partisan,  should  yet,  among  the  opposition,  have  so  many 
warm  admirers  and  most  devoted  friends.  His  nature  was  sensitive, 
generous,  and  confiding.  There  was  no  malice  festering  in  his  heart, 
and  in  his  opposition,  he  was  only  so  to  the  politics,  not  the  per- 
sonal qualities  of  the  man.  By  these  he  judged  of  the  man,  and  the 
character  of  these  regulated  his  conduct  toward  him.  He  did  not 
pass  through  life  without  enemies.  The  man  to  whom  this  is  possible 
is  one  of  no  positive  points  in  his  character,  no  strength  of  will,  no 
fixity  of  purpose,  and  of  but  little  intellect.  Such  men  never  occupy 
the  public  attention — are  altogether  negative,  as  well  in  action  as  in 
mind.  The  enemies  of  Prentiss  were  such  from  envy,  or  political 
hatred.  His  great  abilities,  when  brought  in  contact  with  those 
suing  for  popular  favor,  so  shrivelled  and  dwarfed  them  as  to  in- 
spire only  fear  and  hatred.  But  men  of  this  character  were  scarce  in 
that  day  in  Mississippi.  Such  was  the  tone  of  society,  and  such  the 
education  of  her  sons,  that  traits  so  dishonorable  rendered  odious 
the  man  manifesting  them,  and  those  of  talent  and  education  emi- 
grating to  the  country  soon  caught  this  spirit  as  by  inoculation.  If 
there  were  any  who  were  influenced  by  such  base  and  degrading 
motives,  and  who  felt  these  a  part  of  their  nature,  they  most  gener- 
ally could  command  policy  enough  to  conceal  them. 

No  community  is  long  in  discovering  the  genuine  from  the  counter- 
feit character.  It  did  not  require  months  to  learn  all  the  heart,  all 
the  nature  of  Prentiss.  Too  frequently  are  great  abilities  coupled 
with  a  mean  spirit,  and  transcendent  genius  underlaid  with  a  low, 
grovelling  nature ;  but  these  may  be  known  by  the  peculiar  form  or 
development  of  the  cranium.  The  high  coronal  developments  dis- 
cover the  intense  moral  organization  :  the  lofty  and  expansive  fore- 
head, the  steady,  unblenching  eye,  and  the  easy  self-possession  of 
manner  are  all  indications  of  high  moral  organization,  and  the  pos- 
session of  a  soul  superior  to  envy,  malice,  and  vindictive  hatred,  and 
one  to  which  little  meannesses  are  impossible.  Such  a  head  and 
such  a  soul  had  S.  S.  Prentiss.  His  whole  character  was  in  his  face, 
and  so  legible  that  the  most  illiterate  could  read  it.  This  won  to 
him  like  natures,  and  all  such  who  knew  him  were  instinctively  his 
friends. 

Judge  Wilkinson  was  such  a  man,  and  though  as  ardently  Demo- 
cratic as  Prentiss  was  Whig,  and  as  uncompromising  in  his  principles, 
yet  these  two  were  friends  in  the  loftiest  sense  of  the  term.  Judge 


FIFTY     YEARS.  359 

Wilkinson  had  a  difficulty  with  a  tailor  in  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
who  attempted  an  imposition  upon  him  to  which  he  would  not  sub- 
mit. A  quarrel  ensued,  and  the  knight  of  the  needle  and  shears 
determined  on  revenge.  Collecting  about  him  his  ready  associates, 
they  went  to  the  hotel  where  Wilkinson  lodged,  and  waylaid  him  at 
the  door  between  the  dining-parlor  and  the  reception-room,  and 
attacked  him- on  his  coming  in  from  supper.  In  the  rencontre  three 
of  the  assailants  were  killed,  and  the  remainder  of  the  gang  fled. 
Immediately  surrendering  himself,  he  was  incarcerated  and  held  for 
trial :  although  assaulted  with  murderous  intent,  and  acting  clearly 
in  self-defence,  he  was  denied  bail.  He  was  a  stranger,  and  the 
prejudices  of  the  court  and  the  people  of  Louisville  were  so  manifest 
that  he  demanded  and  obtained  a  change  of  venire. 

The  trial  came  off  at  Harrodsburg.  Prentiss,  learning  the  facts 
and  the  situation  of  his  friend,  volunteered  immediately  to  defend 
him  in  court,  and  to  befriend  him  in  any  manner  possible  to  him. 
The  celebrated  Ben  Hardin  was  employed  to  assist  in  the  prosecu- 
tion. The  eyes  of  all  Mississippi  and  Kentucky  were  turned  to  Har- 
rodsburg when  this  trial  commenced.  Others  volunteered — and 
among  these  was  John  Rowan  —  to  assist  in  the  defence.  But  the 
case  for  Wilkinson  was  conducted  exclusively  by  Prentiss.  It  con- 
tinued for  some  days.  John  Rowan  —  so  celebrated  in  the  State  for 
his  talents  and  great  legal  learning,  as  well  as  for  his  transcendent 
abilities  as  an  advocate  —  sat  by,  and  trusted  all  to  Prentiss. 

There  were  many  sparrings  in  the  course  of  the  trial  between  Har- 
din and  Prentiss  upon  points  in  the  law  of  evidence,  and  as  to  the 
admissibility  or  rejection  of  testimony,  as  also  upon  many  points  of 
the  criminal  law  of  England,  whether  changed  or  not  by  statutory 
provisions  of  the  State. 

In  one  of  these,  Rowan  handed  an  open  authority  to  Prentiss,  and 
was  taunted  by  Hardin  for  the  act,  by  saying:  "Give  your  friend 
all  the  aid  you  can  :  he  needs  it." 

"  I  only  preserved  the  book  open  at  the  page  where  Mr.  Prentiss 
had  marked  the  law,"  said  Rowan:  "  he  requires  no  aid  from  me, 
brother  Hardin.  With  all  your  learning  and  experience,  he  is  more 
than  a  match  for  you." 

This  Hardin  was  not  long  in  discovering,  and  especially  did  he 
feel  it  when  Prentiss  came  to  reply  to  his  address  to  the  jury.  So 
long  accustomed  to  defy  competition  as  a  criminal  lawyer,  Hardin 


360  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

was  not  only  surprised  at  the  tact  and  masterly  talent  displayed  by 
his  adversary,  but  he  was  annoyed,  and  felt  that  to  maintain  his 
prestige  as  the  great  criminal  lawyer  of  Kentucky,  he  must  put  forth 
all  his  powers.  He  had  done  so ;  and  in  his  summing  up  before  the 
jury  he  seemed  more  than  himself.  When  he  had  concluded  there 
were  many  who  deemed  conviction  sure. 

Premiss  followed,  and  in  his  grandest  manner  tore  to  tatters  every 
argument  and  every  position  advanced  and  assumed  by  Hardin. 
Towering  in  the  majesty  of  his  genius  in  one  of  those  transcendent 
flights  of  imagination  so  peculiar  to  him,  when  his  illustrations  in 
figures  followed  each  other  in  such  quick  and  constant  succession  as 
to  seem  inexhaustible,  he  turned  suddenly  upon  Hardin,  and,  stoop- 
ing his  face  until  it  almost  touched  that  of  the  stern  old  Kentuckian, 
he  hissed  forth :  "  Dare  you,  sir,  ask  a  verdict  of  such  a  jury  as  is 
here  sitting  upon  this  testimony?  —  you,  sir,  who  under  the  verdict 
of  nature  must  soon  appear  before  the  awful  bar  to  which  you  now 
strive  prematurely  to  consign  this  noble,  this  gallant  young  man  ! 
Should  you  succeed,  you  must  meet  him  there.  Could  you,  in  the 
presence  of  Almighty  God  —  He  who  knows  the  inmost  thoughts  — 
justify  your  work  of  to-day  ?  His  mandate  is  not  to  the  gibbet. 
Eternal  Justice  dictates  there,  whose  decrees  are  eternal.  Do  you  think 
of  this  ?  Do  you  defy  it  ?  If  not  —  if  you  invoke  it,  do  it  through 
your  acts  toward  your  fellow-man.  Have  you  to-day  done  unto  this 
man  as  you  would  he  should  do  unto  you  ?  I  pause  for  a  reply  —  none. 
Then  shudder  and  repent,  for  the  record  even  now  is  making  up  against 
you  in  that  high  court  from  which  there  is  no  appeal.  You,  gentlemen 
of  the  jury,  are  no  hired  advocates :  you  are  not  laboring  for  blood- 
money.  Though  your  responsibility  to  your  God  is  equal  to  his,  you 
will  not  go  to  the  bar  of  your  Creator  with  blood  —  guiltless  blood  — 
upon  your  consciences.  You  will  not,  as  he  will,  in  that  awful  pres- 
ence, on  that  eventful  day,  look  around  you  for  the  accusing  spirit 
of  him  whom  you  consigned  to  the  gibbet  with  a  consciousness  of  his 
innocence  of  murder.  How  will  it  be  with  you  ?  (turning  again  to 
Hardin.)  Ah!  how  will  it  be  with  you?  Still  silent.  Despite  the 
hardness  of  his  features,  mercy  like  a  halo  sweeps  over  them,  and 
speaks  to  you,  gentlemen,  eloquently :  '  Acquit  the  accused  ! '  Look 
over  yonder,  gentlemen :  within  these  walls  is  one  awaiting  your  ver- 
dict in  tearless  agony  —  she  who  but  for  this  untoward  event  would 
now  have  been  happy  as  his  bride :  she  who  has  cheered  him  in  his 


FIFTY     YEARS.  361 

prison-cell  daily  with  her  presence  and  lovely  soul !  Hers,  not  his 
fate,  is  in  your  hands.  To  him  death  is  nothing :  the  brave  defy 
death  —  the  good  fear  it  not ;  then  why  should  he  fear  ?  But  she  ! 
O  God  !  it  is  a  fearful  thing  to  crush  to  death  with  agony  the  young, 
hopeful,  and  loving  heart  of  virtuous  woman.  His  death  is  only  ter- 
rible in  her  future.  Go  with  her,  gentlemen,  through  life;  conte'm- 
plate  the  wan  features  of  slow  decay:  see  in  these  the  one  eternal, 
harrowing  thought ;  list  to  the  sigh  which  rives  the  heart ;  watch  the 
tear  which  falls  in  secret;  see  her  sink  into  the  grave;  then  turn 
away,  look  up  into  heaven,  and  from  your  heart  say:  '  O  God  !  I  did 
it.'  You  will  not ;  you  cannot ;  you  dare  not." 

Hardin's  conclusion  was  tame,  and  without  effect;  the  demonstra- 
tions on  the  part  of  the  jury  dispirited  him,  and  his  concluding 
speech  had  none  of  the  power  of  his  opening.  The  jury  returned  a 
verdict  of  not  guilty,  without  hesitation.  Wilkinson  was  imme- 
diately discharged,  and  in  company  with  his  friends  was  repairing  to 
the  hotel,  when,  in  -the  warmth  of  his  emotion,  he  said,  laying  his 
hand  on  the  shoulder  of  Prentiss :  "  How  shall  I  pay  you,  my  friend, 
for  this  great  service  you  have  done  me?  " 

"  By  never  mentioning  pay  again,"  was'  the  prompt  and  decisive 
reply. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

A    FINANCIAL    CRASH. 

A  WONDERFUL  MEMORY  —  A  NATION  WITHOUT  DEBT  —  CRUSHING  THE 
NATIONAL  BANK  — RISE  OF  STATE  BANKS  — INFLATED  CURRENCY  — GRAND 
FLARE-UP—TAKE  CARE  OF  YOURSELF  —  COMMENCING  ANEW  — FAILING  TO 
REACH  AN  OBTUSE  HEART  —  KING  ALCOHOL  DOES  HIS  WORK  —  PRENTISS 
AND  FOOTE  — LOVE  ME,  LOVE  MY  DOG  — A  NOBLE  SPIRIT  OVERCOME  — 
CHARITY  COVERETH  A  MULTITUDE  OF  SINS. 

THE  rare  combination  of  the  elements   of  the  mind  in  Mr. 
Prentiss  is  only  occasionally  met  with  in  time.     Judgment, 
imagination,  and  memory  were  all  transcendent  and  equal  in  their 
respective  powers.     With  such  a  mind,  everything  possible  to  man 
may  b.  accomplished.     The  invention  is  rapid  ;  the  combining  and 


362  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

applying  responds  as  rapidly;  the  fitting  and  the  proper  wak  on  these 
in  the  judgment,  and  the  emanation  of  the  whole  is  perfect.  The 
imagination  conceives,  the  memory  retains,  and  the  judgment  ap- 
plies. The  consummate  perfection  of  all  of  these  elements  in  one 
mind,  assures  greatness.  Charles  James  Fox,  one  of  England's 
ablest  statesmen,  said  this  combination,  organized  in  the  brain  of 
Napoleon,  was  more  complete  than  had  existed  with  any  man  since 
the  days  of  Julius  Caesar,  and  would  have  made  him  transcendently 
great  in  anything  to  which  he  might  have  addressed  his  powers.  As 
a  poet,  he  would  have  equalled  Homer ;  as  a  lawyer,  the  author  of 
the  Pandects;  as  an  architect,  Michael  Angelo  ;  as  an  astronomer, 
Newton  or  Galileo;  as  an  actor,  Garrick,  or  his  beloved  Talma — as 
he  had  equalled  Caesar  and  Hannibal,  and  greatly  surpassed  Marl- 
borough,  Frederick  the  Great,  and  Charles  XII. ;  as  an  orator, 
Demosthenes  ;  and  as  a  statesman,  the  greatest  the  earth  ever  knew. 

This  combination  in  the  mind  of  Prentiss,  with  the  great  develop- 
ment of  the  organ  of  language,  made  him  the  unrivalled  orator  of  his 
age.  His  powers  of  memory  were  so  great  as  to  astonish  even  those 
eminently  gifted  in  the  same  manner.  In  reading,  he  involuntarily 
committed  to  memory,  whether  of  prose  or  poetry.  He  seemed  to 
have  memorized  the  Bible,  Shakspeare,  Dryden,  Ben  Jonson,  Byron, 
and  many  others  of  the  modern  poets.  The  whole  range  of  litera- 
ture was  at  his  command:  to  read  once,  was  always  to  remember. 
This  capacity  to  acquire  was  so  great  that  he  would  in  a  month 
master  as  much  as  most  men  could  in  twelve. 

It  appeared  immaterial  to  what  he  applied  himself,  the  consequence 
was  the  same.  Scientific  research,  or  light  literature ;  the  ordinary 
occurrences  of  the  day,  recorded  in  the  newspapers,  or  detailed  by  an 
occasional  visitor  —  all  were  remembered,  and  with  truthful  exact- 
ness. Dates,  days,  names,  and  events  fastened  upon  his  memory 
tenaciously,  and  remained  there  without  an  effort.  Hence,  the  fund 
of  information  possessed  by  him  astonished  the  best  informed,  who 
were  gray  with  years  and  reading.  The  exuberance  of  his  imagina- 
tion continually  supplied  new  and  beautiful  imagery  to  his  conversa- 
tion ;  and  in  private  intercourse,  such  was  the  rich  purity  of  his 
language,  and  his  ideas  so  bold  and  original,  that  all  were  willing 
listeners :  no  one  desired  to  talk  if  Prentiss  was  present  and  would 
talk. 

The   disasters   which    followed   the    commercial   crisis   of    1837 


FIFTY     YEARS.  363 

crashed  almost  every  interest  in  Mississippi :  especially  was  this  true 
of  the  planting,  the  great  interest  of  the  State.  On  the  healthy 
condition  of  hinf  who  tills  the  soil  depends  that  of  every  other 
interest.  The  rapid  rise  in  cotton,  commencing  in  1832,  from  the 
increased  demand  all  over  the  world  for  cotton  fabrics,  caused  a 
heavy  immigration  to  the  fertile  cotton-lands  of  the  West,  and  par- 
ticularly to  the  extensive  and  newly  acquired  lands  of  Mississippi. 
The  world  was  at  peace,  and  great  prosperity  was  universal ;  money 
was  cheap,  or  rather  its  representative,  bank  paper.  The  system  of 
finance,  so  wisely  conceived  and  put  in  practical  operation  subse- 
quently to  the  war  of  1812,  had  been  disturbed  by  being  made  an 
element  in  the  political  struggles  of  party.  It  had  paid  the  war  debt, 
and  all  the  expenses  of  the  Government  —  furnished  a  uniform  cur- 
rency, equal  to,  and  at  the  holder's  will  convertible  into  coin.  Its 
face  was  the  nation's  faith,  and  its  credit  equal  in  New  York,  London, 
and  Calcutta.  A  surplus  fund  was  accumulating  in  the  United  States 
Treasury,  and  the  unexampled  instance  of  a  nation  out  of  debt,  and 
with  an  accumulating  surplus  of  money  in  her  treasury,  was  presented 
to  the  world  by  the  United  States. 

The  political  economist,  from  this  fact,  would  naturally  infer  that 
the  people  were  heavily  taxed :  not  so ;  there  was  not  on  earth  a 
people  who  contributed,  in  proportion  to  their  means,  so  little  to  the 
support  of  their  Government.  The  tax-gatherer  of  the  nation  was 
never  seen  or  known  in  the  house  of  any  citizen ;  he  knew  not  that  he 
contributed  one  dollar  to  the  public  treasury.  So  admirably  was  the 
source  of  revenue  contrived,  that  no  man  knew  or  felt  he  paid  a 
national  tax.  The  Bank  of  the  United  States  received  and  dis- 
bursed the  moneys  arising  from  customs,  or  tariffs  upon  imports, 
without  one  cent  of  expense  to  the  Government ;  affording  at  the 
same  time  every  healthy  facility  to  the  commerce  of  the  country — 
holding  in  check  and  confining  the  local  State  banks  to  a  legitimate 
business  —  and  wias  the  most  complete  and  perfect  fiscal  agent  ever 
organized.  In  the  struggle  for  party  ascendency,  the  idea  was  con- 
ceived of  using  the  bank  in  aid  of  one  of  the  factions  which  divided 
the  country.  The  machinators  of  this  scheme  failed  to  accomplish 
it,  and,  being  in  power  at  the  time,  determined  to  destroy  it,  upon 
the  plea  of  its  unconstitutionality,  and  of  having  been  used  to  over- 
turn the  Government  —  that  is,  the  party  in  power.  It  was  declared 
dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  country. 


364  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

At  the  expiration  of  its  charter,  then  approaching,  it  was  refused  a 
renewal.  So  intimately  was  it  connected  with  every  interest  in  the 
country,  that  its  passing  out  of  existence  threatened!  universal  bank- 
ruptcy. Its  branches  located  at  every  important  commercial  point, 
its  credit  was  universally  employed.  It  furnished  exchange  at  almost 
a  nominal  rate  upon  every  commercial  city  of  the  world,  and  per- 
meated every  transaction,  giving  health  and  vigor  as  the  circulating 
fluid  does  the  animal  system. 

Suddenly  to  arrest  and  destroy  this,  was  universal  ruin.  But  to 
serve  the  behest  of  party  in  a  double  form,  it  was  crushed.  But  a 
substitute  was  proposed  by  the  party  interested,  and  upon  whom  the 
responsibility  rested  —  the  creation  of  State  banks  without  limit,  which 
were  recommended  to  discount  liberally  to  the  people,  and  supply  the 
wants  created  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  capital  and  accommodations 
of  the  national  bank.  This  recommendation  was  literally  and  instantly 
obeyed.  In  every  State  where  the  dominant  party  held  control — and 
they  did  so  throughout  the  South  and  West — the  legislatures  made 
haste  to  create,  without  limit,  State  banks,  with  power  to  flood  th« 
country  with  irresponsible  bank  paper.  Each  assumed  that  it  must 
supply  not  only  its  portion,  but  the  entire  amount  of  the  banking 
capital  withdrawn,  and  double  or  treble  the  circulation.  The 
natural  consequence  was  immense  inflation  of  the  currency,  or  cir- 
culating medium,  and  the  rapid  appreciation  of  every  species  of 
property  in  price.  Everybody  and  every  interest  flourished  most 
prosperously  —  gaunt  poverty  had  fled  the  land,  and  bloated  abun- 
dance laughed  in  every  home.  Suddenly  men  sprang  into  import- 
ance who  a  little  while  before  were  humble  artizans  or  employed  in 
the  meanest  capacities.  A  new  El  Dorado  had  been  discovered ; 
fortunes  were  made  in  a  day,  without  enterprise  or  work  ;  and  unex- 
ampled prosperity  seemed  to  cover  the  land  as  with  a  golden  canopy 
—  forests  were  swept  away  in  a  week ;  labor  came  in  crowds  to  the 
South  to  produce  cotton  ;  and  where  yesterday  the  wilderness  dark- 
ened over  the  land  with  her  wild  forests,  to-day  the  cotton  planta- 
tion widened  the  earth  —  production  was  quadrupled  —  labor  doubled 
in  value,  land  rose  to  fearful  prices,  the  wildest  extravagance  obtained ; 
costly  furniture,  expensive  equipages,  ostentatious  display  —  all  were 
contributing  to  hasten  the  catastrophe.  The  wise  saw  what  was 
impending,  and  the  foolish  thought  it  impossible.  All  of  this  was 
based  on  credit.  The  banks  were  irresponsible,  for  they  were  with- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  365 

out  capital :  they  had  created  a  credit  and  loaned  it  in  the  shape  of 
bank  paper  to  every  one.  Finally,  the  hour  came  when  all  was  to  be 
paid  for.  The  banks  failed  —  like  the  fame  of  woman,  a  whisper 
destroys  it;  so  a  whisper  blew  away  the  banks.  They  could  not 
redeem  their  promises  to  pay.  These  were  no  longer  available  for 
currency :  they  had  driven  from  the  country  the  coin,  and  there  was 
no  money.  The  merchants  failed,  the  planters  failed,  money  appre- 
ciated to  the  gold  standard,  and  property  correspondingly  depre- 
ciated ;  and  ruin  —  financial  ruin  —  swept  over  the  country  as  a 
consuming  fire. 

Nowhere  was  this  destructipn  so  complete  as  in  Mississippi.  The 
people  of  the  State  had  been  collected  from  all  the  States  of  the 
West  and  South.  There  was  no  common  bond  but  interest;  a 
healthy  public  sentiment,  which  must  result  from  a  homogeneous 
population,  was  unknown ;  there  was  no  restraining  influence  upon 
the  conduct  of  men,  save  only  the  law,  and,  for  the  want  of  efficient 
administration,  this  was  almost  powerless.  Every  one  was  making 
haste  to  be  rich;  speculation  was  wild,  and  everyday  was  witnessing 
transactions  of  doubtful  morality.  Society  was  a  chaos,  and  sauve 
qui  feut,  or,  take  care  of  yourself,  the  rule.  Every  one  who  owed 
money,  however  inconsiderable  the  sum,  was  ruined.  Under  such 
circumstances,  Prentiss  determined  on  removing  from  Mississippi, 
and  selected  New  (Cleans  for  his  future  home.  The  civil  law,  or 
Roman  Code,  was  the  law  in  Louisiana,  and  materially  differed  from 
the  common  or  English  law,  which  was  the  law  of  authority  in  Mis- 
sissippi. Very  few  lawyers  coming  from  the  common -law  States, 
have  ever  been  able  to  succeed  in  Louisiana,  especially  after  having 
practised  in  other  States  for  any  length  of  time.  They  have  not 
only  to  learn  the  civil  law,  but  to  unlearn  the  common.  Some,  who 
did  not  know  the  extraordinary  powers  of  Prentiss's  mind,  feared  he, 
like  many  others  who  had  made  the  attempt,  would  fail ;  but,  almost 
from  the  moment  of  his  advent  at  the  New  Orleans  bar,  his  success 
was  complete.  To  realize  the  expectations  of  the  public,  required 
abilities  and  attainments  of  the  highest  order.  Fame  had  heralded 
his  name  and  powers  to  every  one :  all  had  and  did  expect  from  him 
more  than  from  any  other  man,  and  none  were  disappointed.  From 
this  time  forward  he  eschewed  politics,  and  devoted  himself  to  his 
profession. 

Some  years  before  leaving  Mississippi,  Prentiss  had  married  Miss 


366  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

Williams,  of  Adams  County.  This  lady  was  the  daughter  of  James 
C.  Williams,  a  large  planter ;  her  mother  was  a  Percy,  descended 
from  the  proud  Percys  of  Northumberland,  and  was  a  most  accom- 
plished and  intellectual  woman.  Her  position  was  the  first  among 
the  first,  and  her  birth,  blood,  and  attainments  entitled  her  to 
the  distinction.  Her  daughter,  grown  up  under  her  eye  and  train- 
ing, was  the  mother's  equal,  and  fit  companion  for  the  man  of  her 
choice. 

Prentiss  had  lost  everything  in  the  general  crash,  and  was  com- 
mencing anew,  with  a  growing  family  to  provide  for.  His  business 
rapidly  increased,  and  his  displays  at  the  Bar  were  frequent  and 
wonderful.  Some  of  these,  recited  here,  might,  if  such  a  necessity 
existed,  serve  to  illustrate  his  wonderful  powers  ;  but  there  are  par- 
ties living  whose  feelings  might  suffer,  and  hence  I  forbear.  It  is 
my  earnest  wish,  in  recording  these  recollections,  to  offend  no  one; 
nor  will  I  "set  down  aught  in  malice." 

The  ardent  and  excitable  temperament  of  Prentiss,  combined 
with  his  social  qualities,  required  constant  excitement.  When  em- 
ployed with  the  duties  of  his  profession,  or  engaged  in  any  matter 
of  business  pertaining  to  politics,  or  his  relations  in  any  capacity 
with  the  world,  requiring  attention,  he  was  sufficiently  excited  to 
afford  escape  for  the  restlessness  of  his  mind ;  nor  did  this  man 
seem  fatigued  in  such  occupations  sufficiently  to  require  repose 
and  rest.  On  the  contrary,  it  seemed  to  whet  his  desire  for  fiercer 
and  more  consuming  excitement.  Whenever  he  went  abroad,  the 
crowd  followed  him,  and  the  presence  of  the  increasing. mass  stimu- 
lated his  feelings  to  mild,  social  delight,  and  this  led  him  too  fre- 
quently to  indulge  beyond  a  proper  temperance  in  the  exhilaration 
of  wine.  This,  superadded  to  the  fire  of  his  genius,  was  wearing  fear- 
fully his  vigorous  physique. 

For  the  first  time,  in  the  case  of  fraud  against  James  Irwin,  in 
which  he  made  one  of  the  most  powerful  efforts  of  his  life,  he  mani- 
fested mental  as  well  as  physical  fatigue.  It  was  my  good  fortune  to 
listen  to  that  speech  made  to  a  New  Orleans  jury.  I  had  listened 
many  times  to  his  speeches,  and  had  thought  some  of  these  could 
never  be  surpassed  by  any  man,  not  even  by  himself,  and  especially 
that  delivered  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  and  the  one  delivered  from 
the  steps  of  the  court-house  at  Vicksburg,  after  returning  from  his 
political  campaign  when  a  candidate  for  Congress.  But  this  one 


FIFTY     YEARS.'  367 

was  even  grander  and  more  powerful  than  any  I  had  ever  heard  from 
him.  Returning  from  the  court-house  with  him  upon  that  occasion, 
I  remarked  a  flagging  in  the  brilliancy  of  his  conversation.  For  a 
moment  he  sat  silent  in  the  carriage,  and  then  remarked:  "I  was 
never  so  much  fatigued ;  I  am  afraid  I  am  getting  old.  I  have  not 
an  idea  in  my  brain." 

"  Certainly,  you  have  poured  out  enough  to-day  to  empty  any 
brain,"  was  my  reply;  "and  you  should  be  content  not  to  have  an- 
other for  a  month.  But  I  am  sorry  your  invective  was  so  severe." 

"  Ah  !  my  old  friend,"  he  continued,  "  he  deserved  it  all !  From 
my  heart  I  feel  he  deserved  it  all !  The  magnitude  of  his  iniquities 
inspired  the  rebuke,  and  I  exhausted  my  quiver  in  the  attempt  to 
pierce  his  shame ;  but  I  failed.  The  integuments  of  his  sensibility 
are  armor  against  the  shafts  from  my  bow ;  and  I  feel  the  failure, 
but  I  don't  regret  the  attempt:  the  intention  was  as  sincere  as  the 
failure  has  been  signal." 

"Why,  what  do  you  mean?"  I  asked;  "for,  assuredly,  you  have 
to-day  made  the  most  powerful  and  telling  speech  of  your  life." 

"Yes,  telling  upon  the  audience,  perhaps,  but  not  upon  the  victim 
—  he  escapes  unscathed.  I  care  nothing  for  the  crack  of  the  rifle, 
if  the  bullet  flies  wide  of  the  mark.  I  wanted  to  reach  his  heart, 
and  crush  it  to  remorse;  but  I  have  learned  his  moral  obtusity  is 
superior  to  shame.  I  have  failed  in  my  attempt." 

This  speech  was  followed  by  a  challenge  to  Prentiss  from  the  son 
of  Irwin.  This  was  promptly  accepted,  and  a  meeting  was  only  pre- 
vented by  the  interference  of  parties  from  Kentucky,  Mississippi,  and 
Louisiana.  The  settlement  was  honorable  to  both  parties.  Soon 
after,  young  Irwin  died  by  his  own  hand.  He  was  a  youth  of  bril- 
liant parts,  and  promised  a  future  of  usefulness  and  distinction. 

The  habits  of  Prentiss  were  daily  growing  worse  —  the  excitement 
he  craved  he  found  in  the  intoxicating  bowl.  The  influence  of  his 
lovely  and  loving  wife  greatly  restrained  him ;  but  when  she  was 
away,  he  was  too  frequently  surrounded  by  his  friends  and  admirers, 
and  in  social  conviviality  forgot  the  prudence  of  restraint,  and  in- 
dulged to  excess.  The  more  this  indulgence  was  tolerated,  the  more 
exacting  it  became.  The  great  strength  of  his  nervous  system  had 
successfully  resisted  the  influence  of  these  indulgences,  and  after 
potations  deep  and  long,  it  was  icmarked  thai  they  had  no  inebriating 
effect  upon  him.  This  nervous  strength  by  degrees  yielded  to  the 


368  THE     MEMOR'ES     OF 

power  of  alcohoi,  anil  as,  he  advanced  in  lift  u  was  apparent  the 
poison  was  doing  its  work. 

Now  it  was  that  he  found  it  necessary,  in  order  to  stimulate  his 
genius  to  its  wonted  activity  and  vigor,  on  occasions  demanding  all 
his  powers,  to  resort  to  artificial  stimulants.  His  friends  urged  upon 
him  temperance,  to  forbear  altogether,  to  visit  his  mother  and  friends 
in  Maine,  recreate  amidst  the  scenes  of  his  childhood,  and  to  do  so 
in  company  with  his  wife  and  his  lovely  children,  for  they  were  all  a 
parent  could  wish  them  to  be.  He  promised  to  do  so.  Sad  memory 
brings  up  our  last  meeting,  and  when  the  subject  of  his  intemperance 
was  the  theme  of  our  parting  conversation.  We  stood  together  upon 
the  portico  of  the  St.  Charles  Hotel ;  he  was  preparing  to  leave  for 
Maine  ;  I  was  leaving  for  my  home  in  the  country. 

"  You  still  keep  the  old  cane,"  he  said,  taking  from  my  hand  his 
gift  many  years  before. 

"  I  shall  do  so,  Prentiss,  while  I  live." 

He  continued  to  view  the  head,  upon  which  our  names  were  en- 
graved, and  a  melancholy  shade  gathered  upon  his  features.  "  Oh, 
were  I,"  said  he,  "to-day,  what  I  was  the  day  I  gave  you  this!  " 
and  he  paused  many  minutes  ;  still  the  shade  darkened,  and  his  voice 
trembled  as  he  proceeded:  "We  were  both  young  then,  and  how 
light  our  hearts  were !  We  have  gathered  about  us  household  gods, 
and  we  worship  them  ;  how  sad  to  think  we  shall  have  to  leave  them ! 
You  married  long  before  I  did.  Your  children  will  grow  up  while 
yet  you  live ;  I  shall  never  see  mine  other  than  children." 

"  Say  not  so,  Prentiss.  You  are  yet  young.  You  have  but  one 
thing  to  do,  and  you  will  live  to  see  those  boys  men ;  and  what  may 
you  not  expect  of  them,  with  such  a  mother  to  aid  you  in  rearing 
them  !  " 

"  I  know  what  you  mean,  and  I  know  what  I  will ;  but,  like  Lao- 
coon  in  the  folds  of  the  snake,  the  serpent  of  habit  coils  around  me, 
and  I  fear  its  strength  is  too  powerful  for  mine.  Perhaps,  had  my 
angel  of  to-day  been  my  angel  when  first  a  man,  I  had  never  wooed 
the  scorpion  which  is  stinging  me  to  death  ;  but  all  I  can  do  I  will. 
This  is  all  I  can  promise.  Keep  this  stick  to  remember  me  :  it  will 
support  you  when  tottering  with  the  weight  of  years,  and  with 
strength  will  endure.  When  age  has  done  her  work,  and  you  are  in 
the  grave,  give  it  to  your  son  to  remember  us  both.  Farewell." 
With  a  clasp  of  the  hand  we  parted,  never  to  meet  again.  Not  long 


FIFTY     YEARS.  369 

• 

after,  he  died  at  Natchez,  and,  in  the  family  cemetery  of  the  Sargents, 
sleeps  near  the  city. 

But  few  of  the  speeches  of  Prentiss  were  ever  reported,  and  though 
they  are  like  and  have  the  ring  of  the  true  metal,  yet  not  one  of  them 
is  correctly  reported.  The  fragment  given  in  a  former  chapter  is  the 
report  of  one  who  heard  it,  and  who  wrote  it  the  very  hour  of  its 
delivery,  to  myself,  that  the  information  of  the  acquittal  might  be 
communicated  to  the  friends  of  the  lady  Judge  Wilkinson  was  about 
to  be  married  to,  who  resided  in  my  immediate  neighborhood. 
There  is  not  a  word  of  it  in  the  reporter's  speech,  which  was  sometime 
after  written  out  from  notes.  These  speeches,  with  the  traditions  of 
his  fame,  will  serve  to  perpetuate  his  memory  as  perhaps  the  most 
gifted  man,  as  an  orator,  that  adorned  his  generation. 

In  stature  he  was  below  the  ordinary  standard,  and  his  lameness 
seemed  to  dwarf  even  this.  His  head  was  large,  round,  and  high ; 
his  forehead  expansive,  high,  and  rising  almost  perpendicularly  above 
his  eyes,  which  were  gray,  deep  set,  and  brilliant ;  his  nose  was 
straight  and  beautifully  chiselled,  thin,  and  the  nostrils  large,  and 
swelling  and  expanding  when  excited.  In  speaking,  his  eyes  blazed 
with  a  most  peculiar  expression.  His  chin  was  broad,  square,  and 
strong.  His  mouth  was  the  most  striking  feature  of  his  face  —  large 
and  flexible,  with  a  constant  twitching  about  the  corners.  The  entire 
contour  of  the  face  indicated  humor,  combined  with  firmness.  This 
latter  trait  was  also  indicated  in  the  large,  strong  under  jaw  —  no  trait 
was  more  prominent  in  his  character  than  this.  Yet  he  was  slow  to 
anger,  and  always  conciliatory  in  language  and  manners.  He  was 
charitable  in  the  extreme  toward  others  for  any  laches  in  principle ; 
always  ready  to  find  an  excuse  for  the  short-comings  of  others.  Yet 
no  man  adhered  more  closely  and  more  steadily  to  his  principles 
and  opinions.  He  never  gave  an  insult,  unless  greatly  provoked,  but 
never  failed  to  resent  one ;  always  loath  to  quarrel,  but,  once  in,  bore 
himself  like  a  man,  and  a  brave  one.  The  high  oval  crown  of  his 
head  confessed  high  moral  qualities  ;  here  the  moral  organs  were  in 
wonderful  development.  Too  generous  to  be  malicious,  he  was  ever 
ready  to  forgive,  and  too  noble  to  permit  his  worst  enemy  to  be 
slandered  in  his  presence. 

There  was  once  a  quarrel  between  Prentiss  and  that  erratic  man  of 
wonderful  genius,  H.  S.  Foote.  This  culminated  in  a  hostile  meet- 
ing, in  which  Foote  was  wounded.  In  their  impulsiveness  these  two 

Y 


370  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

were  very  like,  as  also  in  the  generosity  of  their  natures.  Neither 
bore  the  other  malice  beyond  the  conflict,  and  neither  ever  per- 
mitted an  insult  to  be  offered  to  the  name  of  the  other  in  his  absence. 
A  short  time  after  this  affair,  Prentiss  was  with  some  friends  in  Cin- 
cinnati. There  is  always  to  be  found  men  who  swell  their  impor- 
tance by  toadying  men  of  character  and  eminence.  Such  are  as  fre- 
quently found  in  Cincinnati  as  elsewhere 

One  of  these  had  sought  out  Prentiss,  and  was  attempting  to  make 
himself  agreeable  to  him  by  abusing  Footer  this  abuse  wound  up 
by  denouncing  the  distinguished  Mississippian  as  a  dog.  Prentiss 
turned  sharply  upon  him  with  the  exclamation  :  "If  he  is  a  dog, 
sir,  he  is  our  dog,  and  you  shall  not  abuse  him  in  my  presence!  " 
The  discomfiture  of  the  toady  may  be  easily  imagined  ;  he  slunk 
away,  nor  did  he  again  obtrude  his  unwanted  presence  upon  Prcntiss 
during  his  stay. 

Few  men  have  ever  so  fastened  themselves  upon  the  affections  of 
their  friends  as  did  Prentiss :  his  qualities  of  heart  and  head  were 
fascinating,  almost  beyond  humanity  ;  none  ever  met  him  for  a  day 
and  went  away  unattached  ;  strangers,  who  knew  him  not,  listening 
to  him,  not  only  admired,  but  loved  him.  He  never  lost  a  friend  ; 
and  all  his  enemies  were  political,  or  from  envy.  In  the  society  of 
ladies  he  was  extremely  diffident  and  unobtrusive,  and  always  appre- 
hensive lest  he  should  be  unable  to  entertain  them  agreeably. 

On  one  occasion,  not  long  before  our  final  parting,  he  said  he 
had  committed  two  great  errors  in  his  life  :  leaving  his  native  home 
to  find  one  in  the  South,  and  not  marrying  when  he  first  com- 
menced the  practice  of  law.  "  My  constitution  was  strong  and 
suited  to  a  northern  climate,  and  there  home- influences  would  have 
restrained  propensities  that  have  grown  with  indulgence,  and  are 
threatening  in  their  consequences.  I  feel  this :  I  am  not  the  strong 
man  I  was ;  mind  and  body  are  failing,  and  the  beautiful  lines  of 
our  friend  Wild  are  constantly  recurring  to  my  mind : 

"'My  life  is  like  the  autumn  leaf, 

Which  trembles  in  the  moon's  pale  ray: 
Its  hold  is  frail,  its  date  is  brief, 
Restless,  and  soon  to  pass  away.' 

"Why  did  not  Wild  give  his  life  to  literature,  instead  of  the  musty 
maxims  of  the  law.  Little  as  he  has  written,  it  is  enough  to  preserve 


FIFTY     YEARS.  371 

his  fame  as  a  true  poet ;  and  though  he  has  been  a  member  of  Con- 
gress, and  a  distinguished  one,  a  lawyer,  and  a  distinguished  one, 
his  fame  and  name  will  only  be  perpetuated  by  his  verse,  so  tender, 
so  touching,  and  so  true  to  the  feelings  of  the  heart.  It  is  the  heart 
that  he  lives  in.  Ah  !  it  is  the  heart  only  which  forms  and  fashions 
the  romance  of  life ;  and  without  this  romance,  life  is  scarcely  worth 
the  keeping. 

"Tis  midnight  — on  the  mountains  brown 
The  cold  round  moon  shines  deeply  down ; 
Blue  roll  the  waters,  blue  the  sky 
Spreads  like  an  ocean  hung  on  high, 
Bespangled  with  those  isles  of  light, 
So  wildly,  spiritually  bright; 
Who  ever  gazed  upon  them  shining, 
And  turned  to  earth  without  repining, 
Nor  wished  for  wings  to  flee  away, 
And  mix  with  their  eternal  ray  ? ' 

We  feel  as  Byron  did  when  he  imagined  these  lines.  I  see  him  with 
upturned  eyes  gazing  on  the  blue  expanse  above,  watching  the  stars ; 
thinking  of  heaven ;  feeling  earth,  and  hating  it,  and  his  soul  flying 
away  from  it,  to  meet  and  mingle  in  the  firmament  above  him  with 
the  spiritually  bright  and  heavenly  pure  brilliants  sparkling  on  her 
diadem.  How  mean  —  how  miserably  mean  this  earth,  and  all  it 
gives  !  One  diamond  in  a  world  of  dirt.  The  soul  that  loves  and 
contemplates  the  eternal  —  shall  it  shake  off  at  once  the  miserable 
clod,  and  in  a  moment  glisten  among  the  millions,  pure,  bright,  and 
lovely  as  these?  There  is  but  one  idea  of  hell  —  eternal  torture! 
But  every  man  has  his  own  idea  of  heaven  :  yet,  with  all,  its  chiefest 
attribute  is  eternal  happiness.  The  wretch  craves  it  for  rest ;  he 
who  never  knew  care  or  suffering,  desires  it  for  enjoyment ;  and  the 
wildest  imagination  sublimates  its  bliss  to  love  and  beauty.  And  God 
only  knows  what  it  is,  or  in  what  it  consists.  But  we  shall  know, 
and  I,  in  a  little  time.  On  Him  who  gave  me  being  I  confidently 
rely  for  all  which  is  destined  in  my  future." 

His  spirit  was  eminently  worshipful.  The  wisdom  and  goodness 
of  God  he  saw  in  every  creature  ;  he  contemplated  these  as  a  part  of 
the  grand  whole,  and  saw  a  union  and  use  in  all  for  the  harmony  of  the 
whole  ;  he  saw  all  created  nature  linked,  each  filling  and  subserving 
a  part,  in  duties  and  uses,  as  designed,  and,  his  mind  filled  with  the 


372  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

contemplation,  his  soul  expanded  in  love  and  worship  of  the  great 
Architect  who  conceived  and  created  all. 

With  all  this  might  of  mind  and  beauty  of  soul,  there  lurked  a 
demon  to  mar  and  destroy.  It  worked  its  end :  let  us  draw  a  veil 
over  the  frailties  of  poor  human  nature,  and,  in  the  admiration  of 
the  genius  and  the  soul,  forget  the  foibles  and  frailties  of  the  body. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

ACADIAN  FRENCH  SETTLERS. 

SUGAR  w.  COTTON— ACADIA—  A  SPECIMEN  OF  MISSISSIPPI  FRENCH  LIFE  — 
BAYOU  LA  FOURCHE— THE  GREAT  FLOOD  —  THEOLOGICAL  ARBITRATION  — 
A  RUSTIC  BALL— OLD-FASHIONED  WEDDINGS — CREOLES  AND  QUADROONS 
THE  PLANTER  —  NEGRO  SERVANTS  —  GAULS  AND  ANGLO-NORMANS  —  ANTA- 
GONISM OF  RACES. 

FORTY  years  ago,  there  was  quite  an  excitement  among  the  cot- 
ton-planters, in  the  neighborhood  of  Natchez,  upon  the  subject 
of  sugar-planting  in  the  southern  portion  of  Louisiana.  At  that  time 
it  was  thought  the  duty  (two  and  a  half  cents  per  pound)  on  imported 
sugars  would  be  continued  as  a  revenue  tax,  and  that  it  would  afford 
sufficient  protection  to  make  the  business  of  sugar  -  planting  much 
more  profitable  than  that  of  cotton.  The  section  of  country  attract- 
ing the  largest  share  of  attention  for  this  purpose  was  the  Teche,  or 
Attakapas  country,  the  Bayous  La  Fourche,  Terre  Bonne,  and  Black. 
The  Teche  and  La  Fourche  had  long  been  settled  by  a  population, 
known  in  Louisiana  as  the  Acadian  French.  These  people,  thus 
named,  had  once  resided  in  Nova  Scotia  and  Lower  Canada,  or 
Canada  East  as  now  known.  When  peopled  by  the  French,  Nova  Scotia 
was  called  Acadia.  Upon  the  conquest  by  the  English,  these  people 
were  expelled  the  country,  and  in  a  most  inhuman  and  unchristian 
manner.  They  were  permitted  to  choose  the  countries  to  which 
they  would  go,  and  were  there  sent  by  the  British  Government. 
Many  went  to  Canada,  some  to  Vincennes  in  Indiana,  some  to  St. 
Louis,  Cape  Girardeau,  Viedepouche,  and  Kaskaskia  in  Mississippi, 
and  many  returned  to  France. 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


373 


Upon  the  cession,  or  rather  donation  to  Spain  of  Louisiana  by 
France,  these,  with  many  others  of  a  population  similar  to  these, 
from  the  different  arrondissements  of  France,  were  sent  to  Louisiana, 
and  were  located  in  Opelousas,  Attakapas,  La  Fourche,  and  in  the 
parishes  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  St.  Charles,  and  St.  James  (parishes 
constituting  the  Acadian  coast  on  the  Mississippi).  On  the  La 
Fourche  they  constituted,  forty  years  ago,  almost  the  entire  popula- 
tion. They  were  illiterate  and  poor.  Possessing  the  richest  lands 
on  earth,  which  they  had  reclaimed  from  the  annual  inundations  of 
the  Mississippi  River  by  levees  constructed  along  the  margins  of  the 
stream  —  with  a  climate  congenial  and  healthful,  and  with  every 
facility  afforded  by  the  navigation  of  the  bayou  and  the  Mississippi  for 
reaching  the  best  market  for  all  they  could  produce — yet,  with  all 
these  natural  advantages,  promising  to  labor  and  enterprise  the  most 
ample  rewards,  they  could  not  be  stimulated  to  industry  or  made  to 
understand  them. 

They  had  established  their  homes  on  the  margin  of  the  stream,  and 
cleared  a  few  acres  of  the  land  donated  by  the  Government,  upon  which 
to  grow  a  little  corn  and  a  few  vegetables.  With  a  limited  amount  of 
stock,  which  found  subsistence  upon  the  cane  and  grass  of  the  woods, 
and  with  the  assistance  of  a  shot-gun,  they  managed  to  subsist  —  as 
Peake's  mother  served  the  Lord  —  after  a  fashion. 

Their  houses  were  unique  :  a  slender  frame,  often  of  poles  cut  from 
the  forest,  and  rudely  squared,  served  the  purpose.  Into  the  stud- 
ding were  placed  pins,  extending  from  one  to  the  other,  horizontally, 
and  about  ten  inches  apart.  The  long  gray  moss  of  the  country  was 
then  gathered  and  thrown  by  layers  into  a  pit  dug  for  the  purpose, 
with  the  soil,  until  the  pit  was  full,  when  water  was  added  in  suf- 
ficient quantities  to  wet  the  mass  through ;  this  done,  all  who  are 
assisting  in  the  construction  of  the  house  —  men,  women,  boys,  and 
girls — jump  in  upon  it,  and  continue  to  tramp  until  mud  and  moss  are 
completely  intermingled  and  made  of  proper  consistence,  when  it  is 
gathered  up  and  made  into  rolls  about  two  feet  long.  These  rolls 
are  laid  over  the  pins,  commencing  at  the  bottom  or  sill  of  the  build- 
ing, when  each  roll  is  bent  down  at  the  ends,  covering  the  intervals 
between  the  pins,  pressed  hardly  together,  and  smoothed  with  the 
hands,  inside  and  out,  forming  a  wall  some  five  inches  in  thickness, 
with  a  perfectly  smooth  surface.  The  roof  is  first  put  on,  and  the 
floors  laid.  When  this  mud  dries  thoroughly  it  is  white-washed  ;  the 
32 


374  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

house  is  then  complete,  and  presents  quite  a  neat  appearance.  It 
will  continue  to  do  so  if  the  white-washing  is  annually  continued.  If, 
however,  this  is  neglected,  the  lime  falls  off  in  spots,  and  the  primi- 
tive mud  comes  out  to  view :  then  the  appearance  is  anything  but 
pleasant.  No  pains  are  taken  to  ornament  their  yards,  or  gather 
about  them  comforts.  There  is  a  pig  or  two  in  a  pen  in  the  corner 
of  the  yard,  a  hen-roost  immediately  at  the  house,  a  calf  or  two  at 
large,  and  numerous  half-starved,  mangy  dogs — and  innumerable  rag- 
ged, half-naked  children,  with  little,  black,  piercing  eyes,  and  dishev- 
elled, uncombed  hair  falling  about  sallow,  gaunt  faces,  are  comming- 
ling in  the  yard  with  chickens,  dogs,  and  calves.  A  sallow-faced, 
slatternly  woman,  bareheaded,  with  uncared-for  hair,  long,  tangled, 
and  black,  with  her  dress  tucked  up  to  her  knees,  bare-footed  and 
bare-legged,  is  wading  through  the  mud  from  the  bayou,  with  a  dirty 
pail  full  of  muddy  Mississippi  water.  • 

A  diminutive  specimen  of  a  man,  clad  in  blue  cottonade  pants  and 
hickory  shirt,  barefooted,  with  a  palm-leaf  hat  upon  his  head,  and 
an  old  rusty  shot-gun  in  his  hands,  stands  upon  the  levee,  casting  an 
inquiring  look,  first  up  and  then  down  the  bayou,  deeply  desiring 
and  most  ardently  expecting  a  wandering  duck  or  crane,  as  they  fly 
along  the  course  of  the  bayou.  If  unfortunately  they  come  within 
reach  of  his  fusee,  he  almost  invariably  brings  them  down.  Then 
there  is  a  shout  from  the  children,  a  yelp  from  the  dogs,  and  all  run 
to  secure  the  game;  for  too  often,  "No  duck,  no  dinner."  Such 
a  home  and  such  inhabitants  were  to  be  seen  on  Bayou  La  Fourche 
forty  years  ago,  and  even  now  specimens  of  the  genuine  breed  may 
there  be  found,  as  primitive  as  were  their  ancestors  who  first  ven- 
tured a  home  in  the  Mississippi  swamps. 

The  stream  known  as  Bayou  La  Fourche,  or  The  Fork,  is  a  large 
stream,  some  one  hundred  yards  wide,  leaving  the  Mississippi  at  the 
town  of  Donaldsonville,  eighty  miles  above  the  city  of  New  Orleans, 
running  south-southeast,  emptying  into  the  Gulf,  through  Timbalier 
Bay,  and  may  properly  be  termed  one  of  the  mouths  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. Its  current  movement  does  not  in  high  water  exceed  three 
miles  an  hour,  and  when  the  Mississippi  is  at  low  water,  it  is  almost 
imperceptible.  Large  steamers,  brigs,  and  schooners  come  into  it 
when  the  river  is  at  flood,  and  carry  out  three  or  four  hundred  tons 
of  freight  each  at  a  time. 

The  lands  upon  the  banks  of  this  stream  are  remarkably  fertile, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  375 

entirely  alluvial,  and  decline  from  the  bank  to  the  swamp,  generally 
some  one  or  two  miles  distant.  This  Acadian  population  was  sent 
here  during  the  Spanish  domination,  and  with  a  view  to  opening  up 
to  cultivation  this  important  tract  of  country.  It  was  supposed  they 
would  become — under  the  favorable  auspices  of  their  emigration  to 
the  country,  and  with  such  facilities  for  accumulating  money  —  a 
wealthy  and  intelligent  population.  This  calculation  was  sadly  dis- 
appointed. The  mildness  of  the  climate  and  the  fruitfulness  of  the 
soil  combined  to  enervate,  instead  of  stimulating  them  to  active  indus- 
try, without  which  there  can  be  no  prosperity  for  any  country.  A 
few  acres,  though  half  cultivated,  were  found  sufficient  to  yield  an 
ample  support,  and  the  mildness  of  the  climate  required  but  little 
provision  for  clothing.  Here,  in  this  Eden  upon  earth,  these  people 
continued  to  live  in  a  simplicity  of  primitive  ignorance  and  indo- 
lence scarcely  to  be  believed  by  any  but  an  actual  observer.  Their 
implements  of  agriculture  were  those  of  two  centuries  before.  More 
than  half  the  population  wore  wooden  shoes,  when  they  wore  any  at 
all.  Their  wants  were  few,  and, were  all  supplied  at  home.  Save  a 
little  flour,  powder,  and  shot,  they  purchased  nothing.  These  were 
paid  for  by  the  sale  of  the  produce  of  the  poultry-yard  —  the  prudent 
savings  from  the  labor  of  the  women — to  the  market-boats  from  the 
city. 

There  were,  at  the  period  of  which  I  write,  but  half  a  dozen  Ameri- 
cans upon  the  bayou.  These  had  found  the  country  illy  adapted  to 
the  growth  of  cotton,  and  some  of  them  had  commenced  the  plant- 
ing of  sugar-cane.  The  results  from  this  were  very  satisfactory, 
and  consequently  stimulating  to  the  enterprise  of  men  of  means,  who 
felt  they  could  be  more  profitably  employed  in  this  new  culture  than 
in  cotton,  even  in  the  very  best  cotton  regions. 

There  was  one  man  of  high  intelligence  and  long  experience  who 
denied  this  —  Stephen  Duncan,  of  Natchez  —  and  the  subsequent 
experience  of  many  brought  bitter  regret  that  they  had  not  yielded 
to  the  counsels  of  Dr.  Duncan. 

The  great  flood  of  1828  had  not  touched  the  La  Fourche  or  Teche, 
while  the  entire  alluvial  plain  above  had  been  covered  many  feet, 
and  for  many  months.  This  was  the  most  terrible  inundation,  per- 
haps, ever  experienced  in  that  region ;  and  every  one  appeared  to  be 
now  satisfied  that  to  continue  to  cultivate  lands  already  reduced  to 
man's  dominion,  or  to  open  and  prepare  any  more,  subject  to  this 


376  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

scourge,  was  madness.  Hence  the  emigration  from  this  chosen  section 
to  the  new  El  Dorado.  Lands  rose  rapidly  in  South  Louisiana  as 
an  effect  of  this,  while  above,  in  the  flooded  district,  they  were  to  be 
bought  for  almost  a  nominal  price.  Those  who  ventured  to  purchase 
these  and  reduce  them  to  cultivation  realized  fortunes  rapidly ;  for 
there  was  not  a  sufficient  flood  to  reach  them  again  for  ten  years. 
The  levees  by  this  time  had  become  so  extended  as  to  afford  almost 
entire  immunity  against  the  floods  of  annual  occurrence.  The  cul- 
ture of  sugar  received  a  new  impetus  and  began  rapidly  to  increase, 
and  capital  came  flowing  in.  Population  of  an  industrious  and  hardy 
character  was  filling  up  the  West,  and  the  demand  from  that  quarter 
alone  was  equal  to  the  production,  and  both  were  increasing  so 
rapidly  as  to  induce  the  belief  that  it  would  be  as  much  as  all  the 
sugar  lands  in  the  State  could  accomplish  to  supply  this  demand. 
Steam  power  for  crushing  the  cane  was  introduced — an  economy  of 
labor  which  enhanced  the  profits  of  the  production  —  and  a  new  and 
national  interest  was  developed,  rendering  more  and  more  independ- 
ent of  foreign  supply,  at  least  that  portion  of  the  Union  most  diffi- 
cult of  access  to  foreign  commerce  —  the  great  and  growing  West. 

The  Americans,  or  those  Americans  speaking  English  alone,  immi- 
grating into  these  sections  of  Louisiana,  so  far  as  the  language,  man- 
ners, and  customs  of  the  people  were  concerned,  were  going  into  a 
foreign  land.  The  language  of  the  entire  population  was  French, 
or  a  patois,  as  the  European  French  term  it  —  a  provincialism  which 
a  Parisian  finds  it  difficult  to  understand.  The  ignorance  and  squalid 
poverty  of  these  people  put  their  society  entirely  out  of  the  question, 
even  if  their  language  had  been  comprehensible.  They  were  amiable, 
kind,  law-abiding,  virtuous,  and  honest,  beyond  any  population  of 
similar  character  to  be  found  in  any  country.  Out  of  some  fifty 
thousand  people,  extending  over  five  or  six  parishes,  such  a  thing  as 
a  suit  for  slander,  or  an  indictment  for  malicious  mischief,  or  a  case 
of  bastardy  was  not  known  or  heard  of  once  in  ten  years.  This  will 
seem  strange  when  we  reflect  that  at  this  time  schools  were  unknown, 
and  not  one  out  of  fifty  of  the  people  could  read  or  write,  and  when 
it  was  common  for  the  judge  of  the  District  Court  to  ask,  when  a 
grand  jury  was  impanelled,  if  there  was  a  man  upon  it  who  could 
write,  that  he  might  make  him  foreman.  And  not  unfrequently  was 
he  compelled  to  call  from  the  court-room  one  who  could,  and  trump 
him  on  the  jury  for  a  foreman,  as  the  action  was  termed.  There 


FIFTY     YEARS.  377 

was  not  upon  the  La  Fourche,  which  comprised  three  large  parishes, 
but  one  pleasure  carriage,  and  not  half  a  dozen  ladies'  bonnets. 
The  females  wore  a  colored  handkerchief  tastily  tied  about  their 
heads,  when  visiting  or  at  church;  and  when  not,  not  anything  but 
blowzed,  uncombed  hair. 

The  enterprise  of  the  new-comers  did  not  stimulate  to  emulation 
the  action  of  these  people.  They  were  content  and  unenvious,  and 
when  kindly  received  and  respectfully  treated,  were  social  and  gen- 
erous in  their  intercourse  with  their  American  neighbors.  They 
were  confiding  and  trustful ;  but  once  deceived,  they  were  not  to  be 
won  back,  but  only  manifested  their  resentment  by  withdrawing 
from  communicating  with  the  deceiver,  and  ever  after  distrusting, 
and  refusing  him  their  confidence.  They  were  universally  Catholic; 
consequently,  sectarian  disputes  were  unknown.  They  practised 
eminently  the  Christian  virtues,  and  were  constant  in  their  attendance 
at  mass.  The  priest  was  the  universal  arbiter  in  all  disputes,  and  his 
decision  most  implicitly  acquiesced  in.  They  had  a  horror  of  debt, 
and  lawsuits,  and  would  sacrifice  any  property  they  might  have,  to 
meet  punctually  an  obligation.  Fond  of  amusements,  their  social 
meetings,  though  of  most  primitive  character,  were  frequent  and 
cordial.  They  observed  strictly  the  exactions  of  the  Church,  espe- 
cially Lent ;  but  indulged  the  Carnival  to  its  wildest  extent.  Out  of 
Lent  they  met  to  dance  and  enjoy  themselves,  weekly,  first  at  one, 
and  then  at  another  neighbor's  house  ;  and  with  the  natural  taste  of 
their  race,  they  would  appear  neatly  and  cleanly  dressed  in  the  attire 
fabricated  by  their  own  hands  in  the  loom  and  with  the  needle. 

The  method  of  invitation  to  these  reunions  was  simple  and  speedy. 
A  youth  on  his  pony  would  take  a  small  wand,  and  tie  to  its  top  end 
a  red  or  white  flag,  and  ride  up  and  down  the  bayou,  from  the  house 
where  the  ball  was  intended,  for  two  or  three  miles ;  returning,  tie 
the  wand  and  flag  to  flaunt  above  the  gate,  informing  all — "  This  is 
the  place  "  All  were  welcome  who  came,  and  everything  was  con- 
ducted with  strict  regard  to  decent  propriety.  Nothing  boisterous 
was  ever  known  —  no  disputing  or  angry  wrangling,  for  there  was  no 
cause  given ;  harmony  and  happiness  pgrvaded  all,  and  at  proper 
time  and  in  a  proper  manner  all  returned  to  their  homes. 

Marriages,  almost  universally,  were  celebrated  at  the  church,  as  in 
all  Catholic  countries.  The  parsonage  is  at  the  church,  and  the 
priest  always  on  hand,  at  the  altar  or  the  grave;  and  almost  daily, 
3?* 


378  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

in  this  dense  population,  a  marriage  or  funeral  was  seen  at  the  church. 
It  was  the  custom  for  the  bride  and  groom,  with  a  party  of  friends, 
all  on  horseback,  to  repair  without  ceremony  to  the  church,  where 
they  were  united  in  matrimony  by  the  good  priest,  who  kissed  the 
bride,  a  privilege  he  never  failed  to  put  into  execution,  when  he 
blessed  the  couple,  received  his  fee,  and  sent  them  away  rejoicing. 
This  ceremony  was  short,  and  without  ostentation ;  and  then  the 
happy  and  expectant  pair,  often  on  the  same  horse,  would  return 
with  the  party  as  they  had  come,  with  two  or  three  musicians  playing 
the  violin  in  merry  tunes  on  horseback,  as  they  joyfully  galloped 
home,  where  a  ball  awaited  them  at  night,  and  all  went  merry  with 
the  married  belle. 

These  people  are  Iberian  in  race,  are  small  in  stature,  of  dark  com- 
plexion, with  black  eyes,  and  lank  black  hair ;  their  hands  and  feet 
are  small,  and  beautifully  formed,  and  their  features  regular  and 
handsome  ;  many  of  their  females  are  extremely  beautiful.  These 
attain  maturity  very  early,  and  are  frequently  married  at  thirteen 
years  of  age.  In  more  than  one  instance,  I  have  known  a  grand- 
mother at  thirty.  As  in  all  warm  countries,  this  precocious  maturity 
is  followed  with  rapid  decay.  Here,  persons  at  forty  wear  the 
appearance  of  those  in  colder  climates  of  sixty  years.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  apparent  early  loss  of  vigor,  the  instances  of  great  longevity 
are  perhaps  more  frequent  in  Louisiana  than  in  any  other  State  of  the 
Union.  This,  however,  can  hardly  be  said  of  her  native  population : 
emigrants  from  high  latitudes,  who  come  after  maturity,  once  accli- 
mated, seem  to  endure  the  effects  of  climate  here  with  more  impu- 
nity than  those  native  to  the  soil. 

The  Bayou  Plaquemine  formerly  discharged  an  immense  amount 
of  water  into  the  lakes  intervening  between  the  La  Fourche  and  the 
Teche.  These  lakes  have  but  a  narrow  strip  of  cultivable  land. 
Along  the  right  margin  of  the  La  Fourche,  and  the  left  of  the  Teche, 
they  serve  as  a  receptacle  for  the  waters  thrown  from  the  plantations 
and  those  discharged  by  the  Atchafalayah  and  the  Plaquemine,  which 
ultimately  find  their  way  to  the  Gulf  through  Berwick's  Bay.  They 
are  interspersed  with  small  islands :  these  have  narrow  strips  of  tillable 
land,  but  are  generally  too  low  for  cultivation ;  and  when  the  Mis- 
sissippi is  at  flood,  they  are  all  under  water,  and  most  of  them  many 
feet.  The  La  Fourche  goes  immediately  to  the  Gulf,  between  Lake 
Barataria  and  these  lakes,  affording  land  high  enough,  when  protected 


FIFTY     YEARS.  379 

as  they  now  are,  for  settlement,  and  cultivation  to  a  very  great  extent. 
Its  length  is  some  one  hundred  miles,  and  the  settlements  extend 
along  it  for  eighty  miles.  These  are  continuous,  and  nowhere  does 
the  forest  intervene. 

At  irregular  distances  between  these  Acadian  settlements,  large 
sugftr  plantations  are  found.  These  have  been  extending  for  years, 
and  increasing,  absorbing  the  habitats  of  these  primitive  and  inno- 
cent people,  who  retire  to  some  little  ridge  of  land  deeper  in  the 
swamp,  a  few  inches  higher  than  the  plane  of  the  swamp,  where  they 
surround  their  little  mud -houses  with  an  acre  or  so  of  open  land, 
from  the  products  of  which,  and  the  trophies  of  the  gun  and  fishing- 
line  and  hook,  and  an  occasional  frog,  and  the  abundance  of  craw- 
fish, they  contrive  to  eke  out  a  miserable  livelihood,  and  afford  the 
fullest  illustration  of  the  adage,  "  Where  ignorance  is  bliss,  it  is  folly 
to  be  wise." 

The  contrast  between  these  princely  estates,  and  the  palatial  man- 
sions which  adorn  them,  and  make  a  home  of  luxuriant  beauty,  and 
the  little  log  huts,  their  immediate  neighbors,  tells  at  once, that  the 
population  is  either  very  rich  or  very  poor,  and  that  under  such 
circumstances  the  communication  must  be  extremely  limited ;  for  the 
ignorance  of  the  poor  unfits  them  for  social  and  intelligent  inter- 
course with  their  more  wealthy  and  more  cultivated  neighbors. 
This-  is  true  whether  the  planter  is  French  or  American.  The 
remarkable  salubrity  of  the  climate,  combined  with  the  comforts 
and  luxuries  of  home,  causes  the  planter  to  spend  most  of  his  time 
there,  where  he  can  give  his  attention  to  his  business  and  mingle  with 
his  brother  planters  in  a  style  and  manner  peculiar  to  Louisiana  and 
the  tastes  of  her  people.  Intercommunication  is  facilitated  by  steam- 
boat travel,  and  as  every  plantation  is  located  upon  a  navigable  stream, 
the  planter  and  family  can  at  any  time  suiting  his  business  go  with 
little  trouble  to  visit  his  friends,  though  they  may  be  hundreds  of 
miles  apart.  Similarity  of  pursuit  and  interest  draw  these  together. 
There  is  no  rivalry,  and  consequently  no  jealousy  between  them. 
All  their  relations  are  harmonious,  and  their  intercourse  during  the 
summer  is  continuous,  for  at  that  season  the  business  of  the  plantation 
may  be  safely  trusted  to  a  manager,  one  of  whom  is  found  on  every 
plantation. 

This  social  intercourse  is  highly  promotive  of  a  general  amity,  as 
it  cultivates  an  intimacy  which  at  once  familiarizes  every  one  with 


380  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

the  feelings,  situation,  and  intentions  of  the  other.  Sometimes  the 
contiguity  of  plantations  enables  the  families  of  planters  to  exchange 
formal  morning  and  evening  calls,  but  most  generally  the  distance 
to  be  overgone  is  too  great  for  this.  Then  the  visiting  is  done  by 
families,  and  extends  to  days,  and  sometimes  weeks.  Provisions  are 
so  abundant  that  the  extra  consumption  is  never  missed,  and  the  r%si- 
dences  are  always  of  such  dimensions  that  the  visitors  seem  scarcely 
to  increase  the  family  —  never  to  be  in  the  way ;  and  the  suits  of 
apartments  occupied  by  them  were  built  and  furnished  for  the  pur- 
pose to  which  they  are  then  devoted.  The  visitor  is  at  home.  The 
character  of  the  hospitality  he  is  enjoying  permits  him  to  breakfast 
from  seven  till  ten,  alone,  or  in  company  with  the  family  if  he  chooses. 
Horses,  dogs,  and  guns  for  the  gentlemen  —  billiards,  the  carriage, 
music,  or  promenading,  with  cards,  chess,  backgammon,  or  domi- 
nos  for  the  ladies,  to  pass  away  the  day  until  dinner.  At  this  meal 
the  household  and  guests  unite,  and  the  rich  viands,  wines,  and  coffee 
make  a  feast  for  the  body  and  sharpen  the  wit  to  a  feast  of  the  soul. 
This  society  is  the  freest  and  most  refined  to  be  found  in  the  country. 

Upon  the  coast  of  the  Mississippi,  from  Baton  Rouge  to  many 
miles  below  the  city,  the  proximity  of  the  large  plantations  presents 
an  opportunity  of  close  and  constant  intercourse.  A  very  large 
majority  of  these  are  the  property  and  habitations  of  the  cultivated 
and  intelligent  Creoles  of  the  State.  And  here  let  me  explain  the 
term  Creole,  which  has  led  to  so  many  ludicrous,  and  sometimes  to 
painful  mistakes.  It  is  an  arbitrary  term,  and  imported  from  the 
West  Indies  into  Louisiana.  Its  original  meaning  was  a  native  born 
of  foreign  parents ;  but  universal  use  has  made  it  to  mean,  in  Lou- 
isiana, nothing  more  than  simply  "native;  "  and  it  is  applied  indis- 
criminately to  everything  native  to  the  State — as  creole  cane,  Creole 
horse,  Creole  negro,  or  creole  cow.  Many  confound  its  meaning 
with  that  of  quadroon,  and  suppose  it  implies  one  of  mixed  blqpd, 
or  one  with  whose  blood  mingles  that  of  the  African — than  which 
no  meaning  is  more  foreign  to  the  word. 

The  Creole  planters,  or  what  are  termed  French  Creoles,  are 
descended  from  a  very  different  race  from  the  Acadian  Creole,  or 
Iberian.  The  first  colonists  who  came  to  Louisiana  were  men  of  the 
first  blood  and  rank  in  France.  The  Ibervilles,  the  Bienvilles,  St. 
Denises,  and  many  others,  were  of  noble  descent ;  and  the  proud 
prestige  of  their  names  and  glorious  deeds  still  clings  around  their 


FIFTY     YEARS.  381 

descendants  now  peopling  the  lands  they  conquered  from  the  desert, 
the  savage,  and  the  flood.  These  daring  men  brought  with  them 
the  chivalrous  spirit  which  descended  to  their  sons  —  the  open,  gallant 
bearing;  the  generous  hospitality  ;  the  noble  humanity ;  the  honor 
which  prefers  death  to  a  stain,  and  the  soul  which  never  stoops  to 
a  lie,  a  fraud,  or  a  meanness  degrading  to  a  gentleman.  They  have 
been  born  upon  the  banks  of  the  great  river  of  the  world ;  they  have 
seen  all  the  developments  of  talent,  time,  and  enterprise  which  have 
made  their  country  great  as  the  river  through  which  it  flows.  Accus- 
tomed from  infancy  to  look  upon  this  scene  and  these  developments, 
their  souls  with  their  ideas  have  been  sublimated,  and  they  are  a 
population  unsurpassed  in  the  higher  attributes  of  humanity,  and  the 
nobler  sympathies  of  man,  by  any  on  the  face  of  the  earth  —  sur- 
rounded by  wealth,  tangible  and  substantial,  descending  from  gene- 
ration to  generation,  affording  to  each  all  the  blessings  wealth  can 
give. 

The  spirit  of  hospitality  and  independence  has  ennobled  the  sons, 
as  hereditary  wealth  and  privilege  had  the  sires  who  planted  this 
colony.  These  sires  laid  the  foundation  of  this  wealth,  in  securing 
for  their  posterity  the  broad  acres  of  this  fat  land  where  now  they 
are  to  be  found.  None  have  emigrated:  conscious  of  possessing  the 
noblest  heritage  upon  earth,  they  have  remained  to  eliminate  from 
this  soil  the  wealth  which  in  such  abundance  they  possess.  As  they 
were  reared,  they  have  reared  their  sons;  the  lessons  of  truth,  virtue, 
honor  have  borne  good  fruit.  None  can  say  they  ever  knew  a  French 
Creole  a  confirmed  drunkard  or  a  professional  gambler.  None  ever 
knew  an  aberration  of  virtue  in  a  daughter  of  one. 

The  high-bred  Creole  lady  is  a  model  of  refinement  —  modest, 
yet  free  in  her  manners ;  chaste  in  her  thoughts  and  deportment ; 
generous  in  her  opinions,  and  full  of  charity;  highly  cultivated 
intellectually  and  by  association ;  familiar  from  travel  with  the 
society  of  Europe  ;  mistress  of  two,  and  frequently  of  half  a  dozen 
languages,  versed  in  the  literature  of  all.  Accustomed  from  infancy 
to  deport  themselves  as  ladies,  with  a  model  before  them  in  their 
mothers,  they  grow  up  with  an  elevation  of  sentiment  and  a  propriety 
of  deportment  which  distinguishes  them  as  the  most  refined  and 
polished  ladies  in  the  whole  country.  There  is  with  these  a  softness 
of  deportment  and  delicacy  of  expression,  an  abstinence  from  all 
violent  and  boisterous  expressions  of  their  feelings  and  sentiments, 


382  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

and  above  all,  the  entire  freedom  from  petty  scandal,  which  makes 
them  lovely,  and  to  be  loved  by  every  honorable  and  high-bred  gen- 
tleman who  may  chance  to  know  them  and  cultivate  their  association. 
Indeed,  this  is  a  characteristic  of  the  gentlemen  as  well  as  the  ladies. 

These  people  may  have  a  feud,  and  sometimes  they  do;  but  this 
rarely  remains  long  unsettled.  No  one  will  ever  hear  it  publicly 
alluded  to,  and  assuredly  they  will  never  hear  it  uttered  in  slanderous 
vituperation  of  the  absent  party.  I  may  be  permitted  here  to  narrate 
an  incident  illustrative  of  this  peculiarity. 

A  gentleman,  knowing  of  a  dissension  between  two  parties,  was 
dining  with  one  of  them,  in  company  with  several  others.  This 
guest  spoke  to  the  hostess  disparagingly  of  the  enemy  of  her  hus- 
band, who,  hearing  the  remark,  rebuked  his  officious  guest  by  re- 
marking to  him :  "  Doctor,  my  lady  and  myself  would  prefer  to  find 
out  the  foibles  and  sins  of  our  neighbors  ourselves."  The  rebuke 
was  effectual,  and  informed  the  doctor,  who  was  new  in  the  country, 
of  an  honorable  feeling  in  the  refined  population  of  the  land  of  his 
adoption  alien  to  that  of  his  birth,  and  which  he  felt  made  these 
people  the  superior  of  all  he  had  ever  known. 

No  one  has  ever  travelled  upon  one  of  those  palatial  steamers 
abounding  on  the  Mississippi,  in  the  spring  season  of  the  year,  when 
the  waters  swell  to  the  tops  of  the  levees,  lifting  the  steamer 
above  the  level  of  the  great  fields  of  sugar-cane  stretching  away 
for  miles  to  the  forest  on  either  bank  of  that  mighty  river,  who  has 
not  been  delighted  with  the  lovely  homes,  surrounded  with  grounds 
highly  cultivated  and  most  beautifully  ornamented  with  trees,  shrubs, 
and  flowers,  which  come  upon  the  view  in  constant  and  quick  succes- 
sion, as  he  is  borne  6nward  rapidly  along  the  accumulated  waters  of 
the  great  river.  This  scene  extends  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  up 
the  river,  and  is  one  not  equalled  in  the  world.  The  plain  is  con- 
tinuous and  unbroken ;  nor  hill  nor  stream  intersects  it  but  at  two 
points,  where  the  Plaquemine  and  La  Fourche  leave  it  to  find  a  nearer 
way  to  the  sea;  and  these  are  so  diminutive,  in  comparison  with  all 
around,  that  they  are  passed  almost  always  without  being  seen. 

The  fringe  of  green  foliage  which  is  presented  by  the  trees  and 
shrubs  adorning  each  homestead,  follows  in  such  rapid  succession  as 
to  give  it  a  continuous  line,  in  appearance,  to  the  passers-by  on  the 
steamer.  These,  denuded  of  timber  to  the  last  tree,  the  immense 
fields,  only  separated  by  a  ditch,  or  fence,  which  spread  along  the 


FIFTY    YEARS.  383 

river  — all  greened  with  the  luxuriant  sugar-cane,  and  other  crops, 
growing  so  vigorously  as  at  once  to  satisfy  the  mind  that  the  rich- 
ness of  the  soil  is  supreme— and  this  scene  extending  for  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles,  makes  it  unapproachable  by  any  other  cultivated 
region  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  Along  the  Ganges  and  the  Nile, 
the  plain  is  extensive.  The  desolate  appearance  it  presents — the 
miserable  homes  of  the  population,  devoid  of  every  ornament,  with- 
out comfort  or  plenty  in  their  appearance — the  stinted  and  sparse 
crops,  the  intervening  deserts  of  sand,  the  waste  of  desolation, 
spreading  away  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  —  the  streams  contemptible 
in  comparison,  and  the  squalid,  degraded,  thriftless  people  along 
their  banks,  make  it  painful  to  the  beholder,  who  is  borne  on  his 
way  in  some  dirty  little  craft,  contrasting  so  strangely  with  the  Mis- 
sissippi steamer.  Yet,  in  admirable  keeping  with  everything  else,  all 
these  present  a  grand  contrast  to  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
only  prove  the  latter  has  no  equal  in  all  that  pertains  to  grandeur, 
beauty,  and  abundance,  on  the  globe.  To  appreciate  all  these,  you 
must  know  and  mingle  with  the  population  who  have  thus  orna- 
mented, with  labor  and  taste,  the  margin  of  this  stream  of  streams. 
As  this  great  expanse  of  beauty  is  a  fairy-land  to  the  eye,  so  is 
the  hospitality  of  its  homes  a  delight  to  the  soul.  In  this  population, 
if  nowhere  else  in  America,  is  seen  a  contented  and  happy  people 
—  a  people  whose  pursuit  is  happiness,  and  not  the  almighty  dollar. 
Unambitious  of  that  distinction  which  only  wealth  bestows,  they  are 
content  with  an  abundance  for  all  their  comforts,  and  for  the  com- 
fort of  those  who,  as  friends  or  neighbors,  come  to  share  it  with 
them.  Unambitious  of  political  distinction,  despising  the  noisy  tumult 
of  the  excited  populace,  they  love  their  homes,  and  cultivate  the 
ease  of  quiet  in  these  delicious  retreats,  enjoying  life  as  it  passes, 
in  social  and  elegant  intercourse  with  each  other,  nor  envying 
those  who  rush  into  the  busy  world  and  hunt  gain  or  distinction  from 
the  masses,  through  the  shrewdness  of  a  wit  cultivated  and  debased 
by  trade,  or  a  fawning,  insincere  sycophancy  toward  the  dirty  mul- 
titude they  despise.  By  such,  these  people  are  considered  anom- 
alous, devoid  of  energy  or  enterprise,  contented  with  what  they 
have,  nor  ambitious  for  more  —  which,  to  an  American,  with  whom, 
if  the  earth  is  obtained,  the  moon  must  be  striven  for,  is  stranger 
than  all  else — living  indolently  at  their  ease,  regardless  of  ephe- 
meral worldly  distinctions,  but  happy  in  the  comforts  of  home,  and 


384  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

striving  only  to  make  this  a  place  for  the  enjoyment  of  themselves 
and  those  about  them. 

To  the  stranger  they  are  open  and  kind,  universally  hospitable, 
never  scrutinizing  his  whole  man  to  learn  from  his  manner  or  dress 
whether  he  comes  as  a  gentleman  or  a  sharper,  or  whether  he  pro- 
mises from  appearance  to  be  of  value  to  them  pecuniarily  in  a  trade. 
There  is  nothing  of  the  huckster  in  their  natures.  They  despise 
trade,  because  it  degrades ;  they  have  only  their  crops  for  sale,  and 
this  they  trust  to  their  factors ;  they  never  scheme  to  build  up  char- 
tered companies  for  gain,  by  preying  upon  the  public  ;  never  seek  to 
overreach  a  neighbor  or  a  stranger,  that  they  may  increase  their 
means  by  decreasing  his ;  would  scorn  the  libation  of  generous  wine, 
if  they  felt  the  tear  of  the  widow  or  the  orphan  mingled  with  it, 
and  a  thousand  times  would  prefer  to  be  cheated  than  to  cheat ; 
despising  the  vicious,  and  cultivating  only  the  nobler  attributes  of 
the  soul. 

Such  is  the  character  of  the  educated  French  Creole  planters  of 
Louisiana  —  a  people  freer  from  the  vices  of  the  age,  and  fuller  of 
the  virtues  which  ennoble  man,  than  any  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to 
find  in  the  peregrinations  of  threescore  years  and  ten.  The  Creoles, 
and  especially  the  Creole  planters,  have  had  little  communication 
with  any  save  their  own  people.  The  chivalry  of  character,  in  them 
so  distinguising  a  trait,  they  have  preserved  as  a  heritage  from  their 
ancestors,  whose  history  reads  more  like  a  romance  than  the  lives 
and  adventures  of  men,  whose  nobility  of  soul  and  mind  was  theirs 
from  a  long  line  of  ancestors,  and  brought  with  them  to  be  planted 
on  the  Mississippi  in  the  character  of  their  posterity. 

Is  it  the  blood,  the  rearing,  or  the  religion  of  these  people 
which  makes  them  what  they  are  ?  They  are  full  of  passion ;  yet 
they  are  gentle  and  forbearing  toward  every  one  whom  they  suppose 
does  not  desire  to  wrong  or  offend  them ;  they  are  generous  and 
unexacting,  abounding  in  the  charity  of  the  heart,  philanthropic, 
and  seemingly  from  instinct  practising  toward  all  the  world  all  the 
Christian  virtues.  They  are  brave,  and  quick  to  resent  insult  or 
wrong,  and  prefer  death  to  dishonor ;  scrupulously  just  in  all  trans- 
actions with  their  fellow-men,  forbearing  toward  the  foibles  of  others, 
without  envy,  and  without  malice.  In  their  family  intercourse  they 
are  respectful  and  kind,  and  particularly  to  their  children  :  they  are 
cautious  never  to  oppress  or  mortify  a  child  —  directing  the  parental 


FIFTY     YEARS.  385 

authority  first  to  the  teaching  of  the  heart,  then  to  the  mind  —  instil- 
ling what  are  duties  with  a  tenderness  and  gentleness  which  win  the 
affections  of  the  child  to  perform  these  through  love  only.  Pro- 
priety of  deportment  toward  their  seniors  and  toward  each  other  is 
instilled  from  infancy  and  observed  through  life.  All  these  lessons 
are  stamped  upon  the  heart,  not  only  by  the  precepts  of  parents  and 
all  about  them,  but  by  their  example^ 

The  negro  servants  constitute  a  part  of  every  household,  and  are 
identified  with  the  family  as  part  of  it.  To  these  they  are  very  kind 
and  forbearing,  as  also  to  their  children,  to  whom  they  uniformly 
speak  and  act  gently.  A  reproof  is  never  given  in  anger  to  either, 
nor  in  public,  for  the  purpose  of  mortifying,  but  always  in  private, 
and  gently  —  in  sorrow  rather  than  in  anger;  and  where  punish- 
ment must  be  resorted  to,  it  is  done  where  only  the  parent  or  master, 
and  the  child  or  servant,  can  see  or  know  it.  This  is  the  example 
of  the  Church.  The  confessional  opens  up  to  the  priest  the  errors 
of  the  penitent,  and  they  are  rebuked  and  forgiven  in  secret,  or  pun- 
ished by  the  imposition  of  penalties  known  only  to  the  priest  and  his 
repentant  parishioner.  Is  it  this  which  makes  such  models  of  chil- 
dren and  Christians  in  the  educated  Creole  population  of  Louisiana? 
or  is  it  the  instinct  of  race,  the  consequence  of  a  purer  and  more 
sublimated  nature  from  the  blue  blood  of  the  exalted  upon  earth  ? 
The  symmetry  of  form,  the  delicacy  of  feature  in  the  males,  their 
manliness  of  bearing,  and  the  high  chivalrous  spirit,  as  well  as  the 
exquisite  beauty  and  grace  of  their  women,  with  the  chaste  purity  of 
their  natures,  would  seem  to  indicate  this  as  the  true  reason. 

All  who  have  ever  entered  a  French  Creole  family  have  observed 
the  gentle  and  respectful  bearing  of  the  children,  their  strict  yet 
unconstrained  observance  of  all  the  proprieties  of  their  position,  and 
also  the  affectionate  intercourse  between  these  and  their  parents,  and 
toward  each  other  —  never  an  improper  word ;  never  an  improper 
action  ;  never  riotous;  never  disobedient.  They  approach  you  with 
confidence,  yet  with  modesty,  and  are  respectful  even  in  the  mirth 
of  childish  play.  Around  the  mansions  of  these  people  universally 
are  pleasure-grounds,  permeated  with  delightful  promenades  through 
parterres  of  flowers  and  lawns  of  grass,  covered  with  the  delicious 
shade  thrown  from  the  extended  limbs  and  dense  foliage  of  the  great 
trees.  These  children,  when  wandering  here,  never  trespass  upon  a 
parterre  or  pluck  unbidden  a  flower,  being  restrained  only  by  a  sense 
33  z 


386  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

of  propriety  and  decency  inculcated  from  the  cradle,  and  which 
grows  with  their  growth,  and  at  maturity  is  part  of  their  nature. 
Could  children  of  Anglo-Norman  blood  be  so  restrained  ?  Would 
the  wild  energies  of  these  bow  to  such  control,  or  yield  such  obe- 
dience from  restraint  or  love  ?  Certainly  in  their  deportment  they 
are  very  different,  and  seem  only  to  yield  to  authority  from  fear  of 
punishment,  and  dash  away  into  every  kind  of  mischief  the  moment 
this  is  removed.  Nor  is  this  fear  and  certainty  of  infliction  of  pun- 
ishment in  most  cases  found  to  be  of  sufficient  force  to  restrain  these 
inherent  proclivities. 

Too  frequently  with  such  as  these  the  heart-training  in  childhood 
is  neglected  or  forgotten,  and  they  learn  to  do  nothing  from  love  as 
.a  duty  to  God  and  their  fellow-beings.  The  good  priest  comes  not 
as  a  minister  of  peace  and  love  into  the  family ;  but  is  too  frequently 
held  up  by  the  thoughtless  parent  as  a  terror,  not  as  a  good  and  lov- 
ing man,  to  be  loved,  honored,  and  revered,  and  these  are  too  fre- 
quently the  raw-head  and  bloody-bones  painted  to  the  childish 
imagination  by  those  parents  who  regard  the  rod  as  the  only  reformer 
of  childish  errors  —  who  forget  the  humanities  in  inspiring  the  brutal- 
ities-of  parental  discipline,  as  well  as  the  pastoral  duties  of  their  voca- 
tion. They  persuade  not  into  fruit  the  blossoms  of  the  heart,  but 
crush  out  the  delicate  sensibilities  from  the  child's  soul  by  coarse 
reproofs  and  brutal  bearing  toward  them.  The  causes  of  difference 
I  cannot  divine,  but  I  know  that  the  facts  exist,  and  I  know  the  dif- 
ference extends  to  the  adults  of  the  two  races. 

The  Anglo-American  is  said  to  be  more  enterprising,  more  ener- 
getic and  progressive — seeks  dangers  to  overcome  them,  and  subdues 
the  world  to  his  will.  The  Gallic  or  French-American  is  less  enter- 
prising, yet  sufficiently  so  for  the  necessary  uses  of  life.  He  is  more 
honest  and  less  speculative ;  more  honorable  and  less  litigious  ;  more 
sincere  with  less  pretension  ;  superior  to  trickery  or  low  intrigue ; 
more  open  and  less  designing;  of  nobler  motives  and  less  hypocrisy; 
more  refined  and  less  presumptuous,  and  altogether  a  man  of  more 
chivalrous  spirit  and  purer  aspirations.  The  Anglo-American  com- 
mences to  succeed,  and  will  not  scruple  at  the  means :  he  uses  any 
and  all  within  his  power,  secures  success,  and  this  is  called  enter- 
prise combined  with  energy.  Moral  considerations  are  a  slight 
obstacle.  They  may  cause  him/rto  hesitate,  but  never  restrain  his 
action.  The  maxim  is  ever  present  to  his  mind  :  it  is  honorable  and 


FIFTY    YEARS.  387 

respectable  to  succeed  —  dishonorable  and  disreputable  to  fail;  it 
is  only  folly  to  yield  a  bold  enterprise  to  nice  considerations  of 
moral  right.  If  he  can  avoid  the  penalties  of  the  civil  law,  success 
obviates  those  of  the  moral  law.  Success  is  the  balm  for  every 
wrong  —  the  passport  to  every  honor. 

"  His  race  may  be  a  line  of  thieves, 

His  acts  may  strike  the  soul  with  horror; 
Yet  infamy  no  soiling  leaves  — 

The  rogue  to-day's  the  prince  to-morrow." 

This  demoralizes:  the  expedient  for  the  just  —  that  which  will  do, 
not  that  which  should  do,  if  success  requires,  must  be  resorted  to. 
This  idea,  like  the  pestilence  which  rides  the  breeze,  reaches  every 
heart,  and  man's  actions  are  governed  only  by  the  law  —  not  by  a 
high  moral  sense  of  right.  Providence,  it  is  supposed,  prepares 
for  all  exigencies  in  the  operations  of  nature.  If  this  be  true, 
it  may  be  that  the  peculiarities  of  blood,  and  the  consequence  to 
human  character,  may,  in  the  Anglo-American,  be  specially  designed 
for  his  mission  on  this  continent ;  for  assuredly  he  is  the  eminently 
successful  man  in  all  enterprises  which  are  essential  in  subduing  the 
earth,  and  aiding  in  the  spreading  of  his  race  over  this  continent. 
Every  opposition  to  his  progress  fails,  and  the  enemies  of  this  prog- 
ress fall  before  him,  and  success  is  the  result  of  his  every  effort. 
That  the  French  Creoles  retain  the  chivalry  and  noble  principles  of 
their  ancestry  is  certainly  true ;  but  that  they  have  failed  to  preserve 
the  persevering  enterprise  of  their  ancestors  is  equally  true. 

Emigration  from  France,  to  any  considerable  extent,  was  stayed 
after  the  cessation  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States,  and  the  French 
settlements  ceased  to  expand.  The  country  along  and  north  of  Red 
River,  on  the  Upper  Mississippi  and  the  Washita,  was  rapidly  filled 
up  with  a  bold,  hardy  American  population,  between  whom  and  the 
French  sparsely  peopling  the  country  about  Natchitoches  on  the  Red, 
and  Monroe  on  the  Washita  River,  there  was  little  or  no  sympathy ; 
and  the  consequence  was  that  many  of  those  domiciled  already  in 
these  sections  left,  and  returned  to  the  Lower  Mississippi,  or  went 
back  to  France. 

There  had  been,  anterior  to  this  cession,  two  large  grants  of  land 
made  to  the  Baron  de  Bastrop  and  the  Baron  de  Maison  Rouge, 
upon  the  Washita  and  Bartholomew,  including  almost  the  entire 


388  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

extent  of  what  is  now  two  parishes.  These  grants  were  made  by  the 
European  Government  upon  condition  of  settlement  within  a  cer- 
tain period.  The  Revolution  in  France  was  expelling  many  of  her 
noblest  people,  and  the  Marquis  de  Breard,  with  many  followers, 
was  one  of  these :  he  came,  and  was  the  pioneer  to  these  lands.  A 
nucleus  formed,  and  accessions  were  being  made,  but  the  govern- 
ment being  transferred  and  the  country  becoming  Americanized, 
this  tide  of  immigration  was  changed  from  French  to  American,  and 
the  requisite  number  of  settlers  to  complete  the  grants  was  not 
reached  within  the  stipulated  period,  and  they  were,  after  more  than 
half  a  century,  set  aside,  and  the  lands  disposed  of  as  public  lands 
by  the  United  States  Government.  Had  the  government  continued 
in  the  hands  of  France,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the  titles  to 
these  tracts  would  never  have  been  contested,  even  though  the 
requisite  number  of  settlers  had  not  been  upon  the  lands  to  com- 
plete the  grants  at  the  specified  period;  and  it  is  also  probable 
there  would  have  been,  in  proper  time,  the  required  number.  '  But 
this  transfer  of  dominion  was  exceedingly  distasteful  to  the  French 
population. 

The  antagonism  of  races  itself  is  a  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of 
amalgamation,  even  though  both  may  belong  to  the  same  great 
division  of  the  human  family ;  but  added  to  this  the  difference  of 
language,  laws,  habits,  and  religion,  it  would  almost  seem  impos- 
sible. In  the  instance  of  Louisiana  it  has,  so  far,  proved  impossible. 
Although  the  French  have  been  American  subjects  for  more  than 
sixty  years,  and  there  now  remain  in  life  very  few  who  witnessed 
the  change,  and  notwithstanding  this  population  has,  so  far  as  the 
government  is  concerned,  become  thoroughly  Americanized,  still 
they  remain  to  a  very  great  extent  a  distinct  people.  Even  in  New 
Orleans  they  have  the  French  part  and  the  American  part  of  the 
city,  and  do  not,  to  any  very  great  degree,  extend  their  union  by 
living  among  each  other.  Kind  feelings  exist  between  the  popula- 
tions, and  the  prejudices  which  have  so  effectually  kept  them  apart 
for  so  long  a  time  are  giving  way  rapidly  now,  since  most  of  the 
younger  portion  of  the  Creole-French  population  are  educated  in 
the  United  States,  and  away  from  New  Orleans ;  consequently  they 
speak  the  English  language  and  form  American  associations,  imbibe 
American  ideas,  and  essay  to  rival  American  enterprise.  Still  there 
is  a  distinct  difference  in  appearance.  Perhaps  the  difference  in 


FIFTY     YEARS.  389 

bearing,  and  in  other  characteristics,  may  be  attributable  to  early 
education,  bat  the  first  and  most  radical  is  surely  that  of  blood. 

The  settlements  upon  the  Red  and  Washita  Rivers  did  not  aug- 
ment the  French  populati'on  in  the  country;  it  has  declined,  but 
more  signally  upon  the  latter  than  the  former  river.  There  remain 
but  few  families  there  of  the  ancient  population,  and  these  are  now 
so  completely  Americanized  as  scarcely  to  be  distinguishable.  The 
descendants  of  the  Marquis  de  Breard,  in  one  or  two  families,  are 
there,  but  all  who  located  on  the  Bayou  Des  Arc  (and  here  was  the 
principal  settlement),  with  perhaps  one  family  only,  are  gone,  and 
the  stranger  is  in  their  homes. 

The  French  character  seems  to  want  that  fixity  of  purpose,  that 
self-denial,  and  steady  perseverance,  which  is  so  necessary  to  those 
who  would  colonize  and  subdue  a  new  and  inhospitable  country. 
The  elevated  civilization  of  the  French  has  long  accustomed  them 
to  the  refinements  and  luxuries  of  life ;  it  has  entered  into  and  be- 
come a  part  of  their  natures,  and  they  cannot  do  violence  to  this  in 
a  sufficient  degree  to  encounter  the  wilderness  and  all  its  privations, 
or  to  create  from  this  wilderness  those  luxuries,  and  be  content  in 
their  enjoyment  for  all  the  hardships  endured  in  procuring  them : 
they  shrink  away  from  these,  and  prefer  the  inconveniences  and 
privations  of  a  crowded  community  with  its  enjoyments,  even  in 
poverty,  to  the  rough  and  trying  troubles  which  surround  and  dis- 
tress the  pioneer,  who  pierces  the  forest  and  makes  him  a  home, 
which,  at  least,  promises  all  the  comforts  of  wealth  and  independence 
to  his  posterity.  He  rather  prefers  to  take  care  that  he  enjoys  as 
he  desires  the  present,  and  leaves  posterity  to  do  as  they  prefer. 
Yet  there  are  many  instances  of  great  daring  and  high  enterprise  in 
the  French  Creole :  these  are  the  exceptions,  not  the  rule. 
33* 


3QO  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

ABOLITION    OF    LICENSED     GAMBLING. 

BATON  ROUGE  —  FLORIDA  PARISHES  —  DISSATISFACTION  —  WHERE  THERE'S  A 
WILL,  THERE  's  A  WAY  —  STORMING  A  FORT  ON  HORSEBACK  —  ANNEXATION 

AT  THE  POINT  OF  THE  POKER  —  RAPHIGNAC  AND  LARRY  MOORE  —  FlGHT- 

ING  THE  "  TIGER"  — CARRYING  A  PRACTICAL  JOKE  TOO  FAR  — A  SILVER 
TEA-SET. 

THAT  portion  of  Louisiana  known  as  the  Florida  parishes,  and 
consisting  of  the  parishes  east  of  the  Mississippi,  was  part  of 
West  Florida,  and  was  almost  entirely  settled  by  Americans  when  a 
Spanish  province.  Baton  Rouge,  which  takes  its  name  from  the  flag- 
staff which  stood  in  the  Spanish  fort,  and  which  was  painted  red, 
(baton  meaning  stick,  and  rouge,  red,  to  Anglicize  the  name  would 
make  it  red  stick,)  was  the  seat  of  power  for  that  part  or  portion  of 
the  province.  Here  was  a  small  Spanish  garrison  :  on  the  opposite 
bank  was  Louisiana ;  New  Orleans  was  the  natural  market  and  out- 
let for  the  productions  of  these  Florida  settlements. 

;When  the  cession  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States  occurred,  these 
American  settlers,  desirous  of  returning  to  American  rule,  were  rest- 
less, and  united  in  their  dissatisfaction  with  Spanish  control.  They 
could  devise  no  plan  by  which  this  could  be  effected.  Their  people 
reached  back  from  the  river,  along  the  thirty-first  degree  of  north 
latitude,  far  into  the  interior,  and  extended  thence  to  the  lake  border. 
On  three  sides  they  were  encompassed  by  an  American  population 
and  an  American  government.  They  had  carried  with  them  into 
this  country  all  their  American  habits,  and  all  their  love  for  Amer- 
ican laws  and  American  freedom ;  to  the  east  they  were  separated 
by  an  immense  stretch  of  barren  pine-woods  from  any  other  settle- 
ments upon  Spanish  soil.  Pensacola  was  the  seat  of  governmental 
authority,  and  this  was  too  far  away  to  extend  the  feeble  arm  of 
Spanish  rule  over  these  people.  They  were  pretty  much  without 
legal  government,  save  such  laws  and  rule  as  had  been  by  common 
consent  established.  These  were  all  American  in  character,  and,  to 
all  intents,  this  was  an  American  settlement,  almost  in  the  midst  of 
an  American  government,  and  yet  without  the  protection  of  that 


FIFTY     YEARS.  391 

or  any  other  government.  It  was  evident  that  at  no  distant  day  the 
Floridas  must  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  American  Government.  But 
there  was  to  these  people  an  immediate  necessity  for  their  doing  so  at 
once.  They  could  not  wait.  But,  what  could  they  do?  Among  these 
people  were  many  adventurous  and  determined  men :  they  had 
mostly  emigrated  from  the  West — Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Western 
Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia ;  and  some  were  the  descendants  of  those 
who  had  gone  to  the  country  from  the  South,  in  1777  and  '8,  to 
avoid  the  consequences  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  This  class  of 
men  met  in  council,  and  secretly  determined  to  revolutionize  the 
country,  take  possession  of  the  Spanish  fort,  and  ask  American 
protection. 

They  desired  to  be  attached  to  Louisiana  as  a  part  of  that  State. 
This,  however,  they  could  not  effect  without  the  consent  of  the  State ; 
and  to  ask  this  consent  was  deemed  useless,  until  they  were  first  recog- 
nized as  part  of  the  United  States.  In  this  dilemma,  a  veteran  of 
the  Revolution,  and  an  early  pioneer  to  Kentucky,  and  thence  to 
West  Florida,  said :  "  '  Wherever  there  is  a  will,  there  is  a  way:'  we 
must  first  get  rid  of  the  Spanish  authority,  and  look  out  for  what 
may  follow." 

They  secretly  assembled  a  small  force,  and,  upon  a  concerted  day, 
met  in  secret,  and  under  the  cover  of  night  approached  the  vicinity 
of  the  fort.  Here  they  lay  perdu,  and  entirely  unsuspected  by  the 
Spanish  Governor  Gayoso.  As  day  was  approaching,  they  moved 
forward  on  horseback,  and  entered  the  open  gate  of  the  fort,  and 
demanded  its  immediate  surrender.  The  only  oppbsition  made  to  the 
assault  was  by  young  Gayoso,  the  governor's  son,  who  was  instantly 
slain,  when  the  fort  surrendered  unconditionally.  Perhaps  this  is 
the  only  instance  in  the  history  of  wars  that  a  fort  was  ever  stormed 
on  horseback.  Thomas,  Morgan,  Moore,  Johnson,  and  Kemper 
were  the  leaders  in  this  enterprise.  They  were  completely  successful, 
and  the  Spanish  authorities  were  without  the  means  to  subdue  them 
to  their  duty  as  Spanish  subjects. 

The  next  step  in  their  action  was  now  to  be  decided.  If  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  attempted  their  protection,  it  would  be 
cause  for  war  with  Spain ;  and  it  was  deemed  best  to  organize  under 
the  laws  of  Louisiana,  and  ask  annexation  to  that  State.  This  was 
done.  Members  of  the  Legislature  were  elected  in  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  this  State,  and  appeared  at  the  meeting  of  that  body,  and 


392  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

asked  to  be  admitted  as  members  representing  the  late  Florida  par- 
ishes, then,  as  they  assumed,  a  part  and  portion  of  the  State. 

When  asked  by  what  authority  they  claimed  to  be  a  part  of  the 
State,  they  answered,  succinctly  :  "We  have  thrown  off  the  Spanish 
yoke,  and,  as  free  and  independent  Americans,  have  annexed  our- 
selves and  the  parishes  we  represent  to  this  State,  and  claim  as  our 
right  representation  in  this  Legislature :  we  have  joined  ourselves  to 
you,  because  it  is  our  interest  to  do  so,  and  yours,  too;  and  we  mean 
to  be  accepted."  At  the  head  of  this  representation  was  Thomas,  who 
was  the  commander  of  the  party  capturing  the  fort ;  associated  with 
him  was  Larry  Moore.  Thomas  came  from  the  river  parishes  ;  Moore 
from  those  contiguous  to  the  lakes;  both  were  Kentuckians,  both 
illiterate,  and  both  determined  men.  They  did  not  speak  as  suppli- 
ants for  favors,  but  as  men  demanding  a  right.  They  knew  nothing 
of  national  law,  and,  indeed,  very  little  of  any  other  law ;  but  were 
men  of  strong  common  sense,  and  clearly  understood  what  was  the 
interest  of  their  people  and  their  own,  and,  if  determination  could 
accomplish  it,  they  meant  to  have  it. 

There  were  in  the  Legislature,  at  the  time,  two  men  of  strong  minds, 
well  cultivated  —  Blanc  and  Raphignac ;  they  represented  the  city, 
were  Frenchmen  —  not  French  Creoles,  but  natives  of  la  belle  France. 
They  led  the  opposition  to  the  admission  of  the  Florida  parishes  as 
part  of  the  State,  and  their  representatives  as  members  of  the  Legis- 
lature. They  were  acquainted  with  national  law,  and  appreciated  the 
comity  of  nations,  and  were  indisposed  to  such  rash  and  informal 
measures  as  weref>roposed  by  Thomas  and  Moore.  The  portion  of 
the  State  bordering  upon  this  Spanish  territory,  and  especially  that 
part  on  the  Mississippi,  were  anxious  for  the  admission  and  union; 
they  were  unwilling  that  Spain  should  participate  in  the  control  and 
navigation  of  any  part  of  the  river  ;  and,  being  peaceable  and  law- 
abiding,  they  wanted  such  close  neighbors  subject  to  the  same 
government  and  laws.  The  influence  of  Blanc  and  Raphignac  was 
likely  to  carry  the  majority  and  reject  the  application  of  the  Flo- 
ridans. 

The  pertinacious  opposition  of  these  men  inflamed  to  anger  Moore 
and  Thomas.  The  matter,  to  them,  was  life  or  death.  By  some  means 
they  must  get  under  the  American  flag,  and  they  saw  the  only  preven- 
tive in  these  two  men.  Moore  (for  it  was  a  cold  day  when  the  decision 
was  to  be  made)  was  seen  to  place  the  iron  poker  in  the  fire,  and 


FIFTY    YEARS.  393 

leave  it  there.  Thomas  was  replying  to  Blanc  in  a  most  inflammatory 
and  eloquent  address ;  for,  though  rude  and  unlettered,  he  was  full  of 
native  eloquence,  and  was  very  fluent :  if  he  could  not  clothe  his 
strong  thoughts  in  pure  English,  he  could  in  words  well  understood 
and  keenly  felt.  They  stimulated  Moore  almost  to  frenzy. 

At  that  critical  moment  Raphignac  walked  to  the  fireplace,  where 
Moore  had  remained  sitting  and  listening  to  Thomas.  Warm 
words  were  passing  between  Thomas  and  Blanc,  when  suddenly 
Moore  grasped  the  heated  poker  —  the  end  in  the  fire  being  at  white 
heat  —  and  calling  to  Thomas  with  a  stentorian  voice,  "General 
Thomas  !  you  take  that  white-headed  French  scoundrel,  and  I  '11  take 
blue-nose,"  and,  brandishing  his  hot  poker  over  his  head,  he  charged, 
as  with  the  bayonet,  pointing  the  poker  at  the  stomach  of  Raphignac. 
1 '  Tonnerre  > "  exclaimed  the  frightened  Frenchman,  and,  lifting 
both  hands,  he  fell  back  against  the  wall.  Moore  still  held  the  poker 
close  to  his' stomach,  as  he  called  aloud,  "Take  the  question,  Gen- 
eral Thomas !  We  come  here  to  be  admitted,  and  d —  me  if  we 
won't  be,  or  this  goes  through  your  bread-basket,  I  tell  you,  Mr. 
Raphy  Blue-nose  !  "  Raphignac  was  a  tall,  thin  man,  with  a  terribly 
large  bottled  nose.  At  the  end  it  was  purple  as  the  grape  which  had 
caused  it.  The  question  was  put,  and  the  proposition  was  carried, 
amid  shouts  of  laughter.  "  Oh  !  "  said  Raphignac,  as  the  poker  was 
withdrawn,  and  Moore  with  it,  "vat  a  d —  ole  savage  is  dat  Larry 
Moore ! ' '  Thus  a  part  of  West  Florida  became  a  part  of  Louisiana. 

From  that  day  forward,  many  of  these  men  became  most  prominent 
citizens  of  the  State.  The  son  of  Johnson  —  one  of  the  leaders  — 
became  its  Governor.  Thomas  was  frequently  a  member  of  the 
Legislature,  and  once  a  member  of  Congress,  from  the  Baton  Rouge 
district,  where  he  resided,  and  where  he  now  sleeps  in  an  honored 
grave.  Morgan  and  Moore  were  frequently  members  of  the  Legis- 
lature. But  of  all  the  participants  in  this  affair,  Thomas  was  most 
conspicuous  and  most  remarkable.  He  was  almost  entirely  without 
education ;  but  was  gifted  with  great  good  sense,  a  bold  and  honest 
soul,  and  a  remarkable  natural  eloquence.  His  manner  was  always 
natural  and  genial  —  never,  under  any  circumstances,  embarrassed 
or  affected ;  and  in  whatever  company  he  was  thrown,  or  however 
much  a  stranger  to  the  company,  somehow  he  became  the  conspicu- 
ous man  in  a  short  time.  The  character  in  his  face,  the  flash  of  his 
eye,  the  remarkable  self-possession,  the  natural  dignity  of  deport- 


394  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

raent,  and  his  great  good  sense,  attracted,  and  won  upon  every  one. 
In  all  his  transactions,  he  was  the  same  plain,  honest  man  —  never, 
under  any  circumstances,  deviating  from  truth  —  plain,  unvarnished 
truth ;  rigidly  stern  in  morals,  but  eminently  charitable  to  the  short- 
comings of  others.  He  was,  from  childhood,  reared  in  a  new  country, 
amid  rude,  uncultivated  people,  and  was  a  noble  specimen  of  a 
frontier  man;  without  the  amenities  of  cultivated  life,  or  the  polish 
of  education,  yet  with  all  the  virtues  of  the  Christian  heart,  and 
these,  perhaps,  the  more  prominently,  because  of  the  absence  of  the 
others.  It  was  frequently  remarked  by  him  that  he  did  not  think 
education  would  have  been  of  any  advantage  to  him.  It  enabled 
men,  with  pretty  words,  to  hide  their  thoughts,  and  deceive  their 
fellow-men  with  a  grace  and  an  ease  he  despised;  and  it  might  have 
acted  so  with  him,  but  it  would  have  made  him  a  worse  and  a  more 
unhappy  man.  He  now  never  did  or  said  anything  that  he  was 
ashamed  to  think  of.  He  did  not  want  to  conceal  his  feelings  and 
opinions,  because  he  did  not  know  how  to  do  it;  and  he  was  sure  if 
he  attempted  it  he  should  make  a  fool  of  himself;  for  lies  required  so 
much  dressing  up  in  pretty  words  to  make  them  look  like  truth,  that 
he  should  fail  for  want  of  words ;  and  truth  was  always  prettiest  when 
naked.  In  the  main,  the  General  was  correct;  but  there  are  some 
who  lie  with  a  naivete  so  perfect  that  even  he  would  have  deemed  it 
truth  naked  and  unadorned. 

Larry  Moore  was  a  different  man,  but  quite  as  illiterate  and  bold 
as  Thomas,  without  his  abilities  ;  yet  he  was  by  no  means  devoid  of 
mind.  He  resided  upon  the  lake  border,  in  the  flat  pine  country, 
where  the  land  is  poor,  and  the  people  are  ignorant  and  bigoted. 
Larry  was  far  from  being  bigoted,  save  in  his  politics.  He  had  been 
a  Jeffersonian  Democrat,  he  knew ;  but  he  did  not  know  why.  He 
lived  off  the  road,  and  did  not  take  the  papers.  He  knew  Jefferson 
had  bought  Louisiana  and  her  people,  and,  as  he  understood,  at 
seventy-five  cents  a  head.  He  did  not  complain  of  the  bargain, 
though  he  thought,  if  old  Tom  had  seen  them  before  the  bargain  was 
clinched,  he  would  have  hesitated  to  pay  so  much.  But,  anyhow, 
he  had  given  the  country  a  free  government  and  a  legislature  of 
her  own,  and  he  was  a  Jefferson  man,  or  Democrat,  or  whatever  you 
call  his  party.  He  had  been  sent  to  the  Legislature,  and  volunteered 
to  meet  the  British  under  General  Jackson. 

From  Jefferson  to  Jackson  he  transferred  all  his  devotion ;  because 


FIFTY     YEARS.  395 

the  one  bought,  and  the  other  fought  for,  the  country.  Some  part 
of  the  glory  of  the  successful  defence  of  New  Orleans  was  his,  for  he 
had  fought  for  it,  side  by  side  with  Old  Hickory ;  and  he  loved  him 
because  he  had  imprisoned  Louallier  and  Hall.  The  one  was  a 
Frenchman,  the  other  an  Englishman,  and  both  were  enemies  of 
Jackson  and  the  country. 

Now  he  adored  General  Jackson,  and  was  a  Jackson  Democrat. 
He  did  not  know  the  meaning  of  the  word,  but  he  understood  that  it 
was  the  slogan  of  the  dominant  party,  and  that  General  Jackson  was 
the  head  of  that  party.  He  knew  he  was  a  Jackson  man,  and  felt 
whatever  Jackson  did  was  right,  and  he  would  swear  to  it.  He  was 
courageous  and  independent;  feared  no  one  nor  anything;  was 
always  ready  to  serve  a  friend,  or  fight  an  enemy — a  fist-fight;  was 
kind  to  his  neighbors,  and  always  for  the  under  dog  in  the  fight.  It 
would,  after  this,  be  supererogatory  to  say  he  was  popular  with  such 
a  people  as  his  neighbors  and  constituents.  Whenever  he  chose  he 
was  sent  to  the  Senate  by  three  parishes,  or  to  the  House  by  one ; 
and  in  the  Legislature  he  was  always  conspicuous.  He  knew  the 
people  he  represented,  and  could  say  or  do  what  he  pleased ;  and 
for  any  offence  he  might  give,  was  ready  to  settle  with  words,  or  a 
fist-fight.  Physically  powerful,  he  knew  there  were  but  few  who,  in 
a  rough-and-tumble,  could  compete  with  him ;  and  when  his  adver- 
sary yielded,  he  would  give  him  his  hand  to  aid  him  from  the  ground, 
or  to  settle  it  amicably  in  words.  "Any  way  to  have  peace,"  was 
his  motto. 

There  was,  however,  a  different  way  of  doing  things  in  New 
Orleans,  where  the  Legislature  met.  Gentlemen  were  not  willing  to 
wear  a  black  eye,  or  bruised  face,  from  the  hands  or  cudgels  of  ruf- 
fians. They  had  a  short  way  of  terminating  difficulties  with  them. 
A  stiletto  or  Derringer  returned  the  blow,  and  the  Charity  Hospital 
or  potter's  field  had  a  new  patient  or  victim.  These  were  places  for 
which  Larry  had  no  special  penchant,  and  in  the  city  he  was  careful 
to  avoid  rows  or  personal  conflicts.  He  knew  he  was  protected  by 
the  Constitution  from  arrest,  or  responsibility  for  words  uttered  in 
debate,  and  this  was  all  he  knew  of  the  Constitution ;  yet  he  was 
afraid  that  for  such  words  as  might  be  offensive  he  would  be  likely 
to  meet  some  one  who  would  seek  revenge  in  the  night,  and  secretly. 
These  responsibilities  he  chose  to  shun,  by  guarding  his  tongue  by 
day,  and  keeping  his  chamber  at  night.  Sometimes,  however,  in 


396  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

company  with  those  whom  he  could  trust,  he  would  visit,  at  night, 
Prado's  or  Hicks's  saloon,  and  play  a  little,  just  for  amusement,  with 
the  "  tiger." 

Now,  in  the  heyday  of  Larry's  political  usefulness,  gaming  was  a 
licensed  institution  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans.  The  magnificent 
charity  of  the  State,  the  Hospital  for  the  Indigent,  was  sustained  by 
means  derived  from  this  tax. 

It  was  the  enlightened  policy  of  French  legislation  to  tax  a  vice 
which  could  not  be  suppressed  by  criminal  laws.  The  experience  of 
civilization  has,  or  ought  to  have  taught  every  people,  that  the  vice 
of  gaming  is  one  which  no  law  can  reach  so  completely  as  to  sup- 
press in  toto.  Then,  if  it  will  exist,  disarm  it  as  much  as  possible  of 
the  power  to  harm  —  let  it  be  taxed,  and  give  the  exclusive  privilege 
to  game  to  those  who  pay  the  tax  and  keep  houses  for  the  purpose 
of  gaming.  These  will  effectually  suppress  it.  Everywhere  else  they 
are  entitled  to  the  game,  and  will  keep  close  watch  that  it  runs  into 
no  other  net.  Let  this  tax  be  appropriated  to  the  support  of  an 
institution  where,  in  disease  and  indigence,  its  victims  may  find 
support  and  relief.  Make  it  public,  that  all  may  see  and  know 
its  habituls,  and  who  may  feel  the  reforming  influence  of  public 
opinion.  For,  at  last,  this  is  the  only  power  by  which  the  morals 
of  a  community  are  preserved.  Let  laws  punish  crimes  —  public 
opinion  reform  vices. 

Larry  was  a  lawmaker,  and  though  he  loved  a  little  fun  at  times, 
even  at  the  expense  of  the  law,  he  was  very  solicitous  as  to  the  health 
of  the  public  morals.  In  several  visits  at  Prado's,  he  was  successful 
in  plucking  some  of  the  hair  from  the  tiger.  It  was  exceedingly 
pleasant  to  have  a  little  pocket-change  to  evince  his  liberality  socially 
with  his  friends,  when  it  did  not  trench  upon  the  crop,  which  was 
always  a  lean  one  on  the  sand-plains  of  St.  Helena ;  for,  like  the 
great  Corsican,  Larry  had  a  desolate  home  in  St.  Helena. 

On  one  occasion,  however,  he  went  too  close  to  the  varmint,  and 
returned  to  his  little  dirty  apartments  on  the  Rue  Rampart  minus 
all  his  gains,  with  a  heavy  instalment  from  the  crop.  His  wonted 
spirits  were  gone.  He  moped  to  the  State  House,  and  he  sat  melan- 
choly in  his  seat ;  he  heeded  not  even  the  call  of  the  yeas  and  nays 
upon  important  legislation.  Larry  was  sick  at  heart,  sick  in  his 
pocket,  and  was  only  seen  to  pluck  up  spirit  enough  to  go  to  the 
warrant-clerk,  and  humbly  insist  upon  a  warrant  on  the  treasurer  for 


FIFTY     YEARS.  397 

a  week's  pay  to  meet  a  week's  board.  On  Monday,  however,  he 
came  into  the  Senate  with  more  buoyancy  of  spirit  than  had  been  his 
wont  for  some  days ;  for  Larry  was  a  senator  now,  and  had  under  his 
special  charge  and  guardianship  the  people  and  their  morals  of  three 
extensive  parishes. 

The  Senate  was  scarcely  organized  and  the  minutes  read,  when  it 
was  plain  Larry  meant  mischief.  The  hour  for  motions  had  arrived, 
and  Larry  was  on  his  feet :  he  cleared  his  throat,  and,  throwing  back 
his  head,  said:  "  Mr.  President,  I  have  a  motion  in  my  hand,  which 
I  will  read  to  the  Senate  : 

"  ' Resolved,  That  a  joint  committee,  of  one  from  the  Senate,  and 
two  from  the  House,  be  appointed  to  report  a  bill  abolishing  licensed 
gaming  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans.'  " 

Larry  had  declared  war,  for  he  added,  as  he  sent  his  resolution  to 
the  clerk's  desk:  "At  the  proper  time  I  mean  to  say  something 
about  these  damnable  hells."  Throughout  the  city  there  was  a  buzz ; 
for  at  that  time  New  Orleans  had  not  the  fourth  of  her  present  popu- 
lation. Any  move  ofrfhis  sort  was  soon  known  to  its  very  extremes. 
The  trustees  of  the  hospital,  the  stockholders  in  these  licensed  faro- 
banks —  for  they  were,  like  all  robbing-machines,  joint-stock  com- 
panies— and  many  who  honestly  believed  this  the  best  system  to 
prevent  gaming  as  far  as  possible,  were  seen  hanging  about  the  lobbies 
of  the  Legislature.  Each  had  his  argument  in  favor  of  continuing  the 
license,  but  all  were  based  upon  the  same  motive — interest.  The 
public  morals  would  be  greatly  injured,  instead  of  being  improved: 
where  there  were  only  four  gaming  establishments,  there  would  be 
fifty ;  instead  of  being  open  and  public,  they  would  be  hid  away  in 
private,  dark  places,  to  which  the  young  and  the  innocent  would  be 
decoyed  and  fleeced ;  merchants  could  not  supervise  the  conduct  of 
their  clerks — these  would  be  robbed  by  their  employes.  As  the  thing 
stood  now,  cheating  operated  a  forfeiture  of  charter  or  license:  this 
penalty  removed,  cheating  would  be  universal.  "What  would  be- 
come of  the  hospital?"  the  tax -payer  asked.  "God  knows,  our 
taxes  are  onerous  enough  now,  and  to  add  to  these  the  eighty  thou- 
sand dollars  now  paid  by  the  gamblers — why,  the  people  would  not 
stand  it,  and  this  great  and  glorious  charity  would  be  destroyed." 

To  all  of  these  arguments  Larry  was  deaf ;  his  constituents  expected 
it  of  him ;  the  Christian  Church  demanded  it.  They  were  respon- 
sible to  Heaven  for  this  great  sin.  The  pious  prayers  of  the  good 
34 


398  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

sisters  of  the  holy  Methodist  Church,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Baptist, 
had  at  last  reached  the  ears  of  the  Almighty,  and  he,  Larry,  felt 
himself  the  instrument  in  His  hands  to  put  down  the  d d  infer- 
nal sons  of  b ,  who  were  robbing  the  innocent  and  unsuspecting. 

There  was  no  use  of  urging  arguments  of  this  sort  to  him  :  if  the 
Charity  Hospital  fell,  let  her  fall,  and  if  the  indigent  afflicted  could 
not  find  relief  elsewhere,  why,  they  must  die  —  they  had  to  die  any- 
how at  some  time,  and  he  did  n't  see  much  use  in  their  living,  any- 
how ;  and  as  for  the  taxes,  he  was  not  much  concerned  about  that :  he 
had  but  little  to  be  taxed,  and  his  constituents  had  less.  "  I,  or  they, 
as  you  see,  are  not  very  responsible  on  that  score.  By  the  God  of 
Moses,  this  licensed  gambling  was  a  sin  and  a  curse,  if  it  did  support 
seven  or  eight  thousand  people  in  the  Charity  Hospital  every  year  : 
that  was  the  reason  so  many  died  there,  the  curse  of  God  was  on  the 
place ;  for  the  Scripture  says,  the  'wages  of  sin  is  death,'  and  I  see 
this  Scripture  fulfilled  right  here  in  that  hospital,  and  the  moral  and 
religious  portion  of  my  constituents  so  feel  it,  and  I  am  bound  to  re- 
present them.  And  the  d d  gamblers  wete  no  friends  of  mine 

or  of  the  Church." 

There  was  one,  a  little  dark-moustached  Spaniard,  who  was  listening 
and  peering  at  him,  with  eyes  black  and  pointed  as  a  chincapin,  and, 
murmuring  softly  in  Spanish,  turned  and  went  away.  "  What  did  that 
d d  black-muzzled  whelp  say?"  Larry  asked.  "I  don't  under- 
stand their  d d  lingo."  An  unobtrusive  individual  in  the  back- 
ground translated  it  for  him.  He  said:  "He  who  strikes  with  the 
tongue,  should  always  be  ready  to  guard  with  the  hands!  "  "  What 
in  the  h —  does  he  mean  by  that?"  asked  Larry.  "Je  ne sais  pas /" 
said  one  whom  Larry  remembered  to  have  seen  in  the  tiger's  den,  and 
apparently  familiar  there,  for  he  had  been  on  the  wrong  side  of  the 
table. 

"  I  suppose  they  mean  to  shoot  me."  The  Frenchman  shrugged 
his  shoulders  most  knowingly.  Larry  grew  pale,  and  walked  from 
the  lobby  to  his  seat.  Here  he  knew  he  was  safe.  He  laid  his  head 
in  his  palm,  and  rested  it  there  for  many  minutes.  At  last,  he  said 
sharply:  "Let  them  shoot,  and  be  d — — d." 

The  committee  was  announced.  Larry,  who  was  the  chairman, 
and  two  from  the  House,  constituted  this  important  committee.  One 
of  these  loved  fun,  and  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  have  it.  The 
meeting  of  the.  committee  soon  took  place,  and  the  chairman  insisted 


FIFTY     YEARS.  399 

that  the  first  named  on  the  part  of  the  House  should  draft  the  bill. 
This  was  the  wag.  He  saw  Larry  was  frightened,  and  peremptorily 
refused,  declaring  it  was  the  chairman's  duty.  "  I  do  not  wish  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  this  matter  any  way.  It  was  a  very  useless 
thing,  and  foolish  too,  to  be  throwing  a  cat  into  a  bee-gum;  for  this 
was  nothing  else.  This  bill  will  start  every  devil  of  those  little 
moustached  foreigners  into  fury:  they  are  all  interested  in  these  faro- 
banks.  It  is  their  only  way  of  making  a  living,  and  they  are  as  vin- 
dictive as  the  devil.  Any  of  them  can  throw  a  Spanish  knife  through 
a  window,  across  the  street,  and  into  a  man's  heart,  seated  at  his 
table,  or  fireside  ;  and  to-day  I  heard  one  of  them  say,  in  French, 
which  he  supposed  I  did  not  understand,  that  this  bill  was  nothing 
but  revenge  for  money  lost ;  and  if  revenge  was  so  sweet,  why,  he 
could  taste  it  too.  Now,  I  have  lost  no  money  there  —  have  never 
been  in  any  of  their  dens,  and  he  could  not  mean  me." 

"  Gentlemen,  we  will  adjourn  this  meeting  until  to-morrow,"  said 
Larry,  "when  I  will  try  and  have  a  bill  for  your  inspection."  The 
morrow  came,  and  the  bill  came  with  it,  and  was  reported  and 
referred  to  the  committee  of  the  whole  House.  On  the  ensuing 
morning,  Larry  found  upon  his  desk,  in  the  Senate  chamber,  the  fol- 
lowing epistle : 

"MR.  LARRY  MOORE :  You  have  no  shame,  or  I  would  expose  you 
in  the  public  prints.  You  know  your  only  reason  for  offering  a  bill 
to  repeal  the  law  licensing  gaming  in  this  city  is  to  be  revenged  on 
the  house  which  won  honorably  from  you  a  few  hundred  dollars, 
most  of  which  you  had,  at  several  sittings,  won  from  the  same  house. 
Now,  you  have  been  talked  to  ;  still  you  persist.  There  is  a  way  to 
reach  you,  and  it  shall  be  resorted  to,  if  you  do  not  desist  from  the 
further  prosecution  of  this  bill." 

The  hand  in  which  this  epistle  was  written  was  cramped  and  evi- 
dently disguised,  to  create  the  impression  of  earnestness  and  secrecy. 
It  was  a  long  time  before  Larry  could  spell  through  it.  When  he  had 
made  it  out,  he  rose  to  a  question  of  order  and  privilege,  and  sent 
the  missive  to  the  secretary's  desk,  to  be  read  to  the  Senate.  During 
the  reading  there  was  quite  a  disposition  to  laugh,  on  the  part  of 
many  senators,  who  saw  in  it  nothing  but  a  joke. 

"  What  in  the  h —  do  you  see  in  that  thar  document  to  laugh  at, 
Mr.  Senators?  D—  it,  don't  you  see  it- is  a  threat,  sirs! — a  threat 


400  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

to  'sassinate  me?  I  want  to  know,  by  the  eternal  gods,  if  a  senator 
in  this  house  —  this  here  body  —  is  to  be  threatened  in  this  here 
way?  You  see,  Mr.  President,  that  these  here  gamblers  (d — 'em  !) 
want  to  rule  the  State.  Was  that  what  General  Jackson  fit  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans  for,  down  yonder  in  old  Chemut's  field?  I  was 
thar,  sir ;  I  risked  my  life  in  that  great  battle,  and  I  want  to  tell  these 
d d  scoundrels  that  they  can't  scare  me — no,  by  the  Eternal !  " 

"  I  must  call  the  senator  to  order.  It  is  not  parliamentary  to  swear 
in  debate,"  said  the  President  of  the  Senate. 

" I  beg  pardon  of  the  chair;  but  I  did  n't  know  this  Senate  was  a 
parliament  before;  but  I  beg  pardon.  I  didn't  know  I  swore  before; 

but,  Mr.  President,  I'll  be  d d  if  this  ain't  a  figure  beyant  me: 

for  a  parcel  of  scoundrels  —  d d  blacklegs,  sir  !  —  to  threaten  a 

senator  in  this  Legislature  with  'sassination,  for  doin*  the  will  of  his 
constituents." 

"  The  chair  would  remind  the  senator  that  there  is  no  question  or 
motion  before  the  Senate." 

"  Thar  ain't?  Well,  that 's  another  wrinkle.  Ain't  that  thar  hell- 
fired  letter  to  me,  sir  —  a  senator,  sir,  representing  three  parishes, 
sir — before  this  House?  (or  maybe  you  '11  want  me  to  call  it  a  parlia- 
ment, sir?)  It  is,  sir;  and  I  move  its  adoption." 

This  excited  a  general  laugh,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  ire  of 
Moore. 

"By  G — ,  sir;  I  don't  know  if  it  wouldn't  benefit  the  State  if 
these  hell-fired  gamblers  were  to  'sassinate  the  whole  of  this  House  or 
parliament." 

The  laugh  continued,  and  Moore  left  the  Senate  in  a  rage. 

The  next  morning  found  a  second  epistle,  apparently  from  a  dif- 
ferent source,  on  Moore's  table.  It  was  written  in  a  fine,  bold  hand, 
and  said : 

"  LARRY  :  You  splurged  largely  over  a  letter  found  on  your  desk 
yesterday.  I  see  you  have  carried  it  to  the  newspapers.  I  want  you 
to  understand  distinctly  and  without  equivocation,  if  the  bill  you 
reported  to  the  Senate  becomes  a  law,  you  die.  Verbum  sapientis" 

Larry  had  not  returned  to  his  seat  during  the  day ;  but  the  next 
morning  he  came  in,  flanked  by  several  senators,  who  had  come  with 
him  from  his  quarters.  There  lay  the  threatening  document,  sealed, 
and  directed  to_  the  "  Honorable  Larry  Moore."  In  a  moment  the 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


401 


seal  was  broken.     This  he  could  read  without  much  trouble.     After 
casting  his  eyes  over  it,  he  read  it  aloud. 

"  Now,  sir,  Mr.  President,  here  is  another  of  these  d d  letters, 

and  this  time  I  anr  told  if  this  bill  passes,  I  am  to  die.     Maybe  you  '11 
say  this  ain't  before  the  Senate." 

"  The  chair  would  remind  the  senator  that  the  simple  reading  of 
a  private  letter  to  the  Senate  raises  no  question.  There  must  be  a 
motion  in  relation  to  what  disposition  shall  be  made  of  the  paper." 
"I  know  that,  sir.  Mr.  President,  I  'm  not  a  greeny  in  legislater 
matters.  I  have  been  here  before,  sir;  and  did  n't  I  move  its  adop- 
tion yesterday,  sir?  and  wasn't  I  laughed  out  of  the  house,  sir?  and 
I  expect  if  I  was  to  make  the  same  motion,  I  should  be  laughed  out 

of  the  house  again,  sir.     Some  men  are  such  d d  fools  that  they 

will  laugh  at  anything." 

"The  chair  must  admonish  the  senator  that  oaths  are  not  in  order." 
"Well,  by  G — ,  sir,  is  my  motion  in  order  to-day?    I  want  to 
know;  I  want  you  to  tell  me  that." 
"Order,  Mr.  Senator!" 

"Yes,  sir,  'order!'  Mr.  President,  that's  the  word.  Order, 
sir;  is  my  motion  in  order,  sir?" 

"  The  chair  calls  the  senator  to  order." 

"  Ah  !  that  is  it,  is  it?  Well,  sir,  what  order  shall  I  take?  I  ask  a 
question,  and  the  chair  calls  me  to  order.  Well,  sir,  I  'm  in  only 
tolerable  order,  but  I  want  my  question  answered  —  I  want  to  know 
if  I  'm  to  be  threatened  with  'sassination  by  the  hell-fired  gamblers, 
and  then  laughed  at  by  senators  for  bringing  it  before  the  Senate, 
and  insulted  by  you,  sir,  by  calling  me  to  order  for  demanding  my 
rights,  and  the  rights  of  my  constituents,  here,  from  this  Senate? 

This,  tfir,  is  a  d d  pretty  situation  of  affairs.    If  General  Jackson 

was  in  your  place,  I  'd  have  my  rights,  and  these  d d  gamblers 

would  get  theirs,  sir  :  he  would  hang  them  under  the  second  section, 
and  no  mistake." 

The  laugh  was  renewed,  and  the  President  asked  Larry  if  he  had 
any  motion  to  make. 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Larry,  now  thoroughly  aroused.  "I  move  this 
Senate  adjourn  and  go  home,  and  thar  stay  until  they  larn  to  behave 
like  gentlemen,  by  G — !  "  and  away  he  went  in  angry  fury. 

For  four  consecutive  days,  this  scene  was  enacted  in  the  Senate. 
Each  succeeding  day  saw  Moore  more  and  more  excited,  and  the 
34*  2A 


4O2  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

Senate  began  to  entertain  the  opinion  that  there  was  an  intention  to 
intimidate  the  Legislature,  and  thus  prevent  the  passage  of  the  bill. 
These  daily  missives  grew  more  and  more  threatening,  and  terror 
began  to  usurp  the  place  of  rage  with  Moore.  He  would  not  leave 
the  Senate  chamber  or  his  quarters  without  being  accompanied  by 
friends.  In  the  mean  time  the  bill  came  up,  and  Moore  had  made 
a  characteristic  speech,  and  the  morning  following  there  were  half  a 
dozen  letters  placed  upon  his  table  from  the  post-office.  Their 
threats  and  warnings  increased  his  alarm.  Some  of  these  purported 
to  come  from  friends,  detailing  conversations  of  diabolical  character 
which  had  been  overheard  —  others  told  him  only  an  opportunity 
>was  wanting  to  execute  the  threats  previously  made. 

The  city  became  excited — a  public  meeting  was  called,  strong 
Indignation  resolutions  were  passed,  and  highly  approbatory  ones 
of  the  course  and  conduct  of  the  intrepid  senator,  pledging  him 
countenance  and  support.  A  subscription  was  taken  up,  and  a 
splendid  silver  tea-set  was  presented  him,  and  in  this  blaze  of  excite- 
ment the  bill  became  a  law  —  and  the  city  one  extended  gambling- 
shop.  The  silver  set  was  publicly  exhibited,  with  the  name  of  the 
senator  engraved  upon  it,  and  the  cause  for  presenting  it,  and  by 
whom  presented. 

Moore  was  contemplating  this  beautiful  gift  with  a  group  of  friends: 
among  them  were  the  three  individuals  who  had  been  the  authors  of 
all  this  mischief,  when  one  of  them  asked  Moore,  "  Where  will  you 
put  this  rich  gift?  It  will  show  badly  in  your  pine-pole  cabin." 

"  I  intend  having  the  cabin,  every  log  of  it,  painted  red  as  light- 
ning," said  Moore.  "  The  silver  shan't  be  disgraced." 

Originally  it  had  been  intended  by  those  getting  up  the  joke,  when 
it  had  sufficiently  frightened  Moore,  to  laugh  at  him ;  but  it  took  too 
serious  a  turn,  and  Moore  died  a  hero,  not  knowing  that  every  letter 
was  written  by  the  same  hand,  and  that  the  whole  matter  was  a  prac- 
tical joke.  All,  save  only  one,  who  participated  in  it,  are  in  the 
grave,  and  only  a  few  remain  who  will  remember  it. 

'Larry  Moore  was  a  Kentuckian  by  birth,  and  had  many  Kentucky 
characteristics.  He  was  boisterous  but  kind-hearted,  boastful  and 
good  at  a  fist-fight,  decently  honest  in  most  matters,  but  would  cheat 
in  a  horse-trade.  Early  education  is  sometimes  greatly  at  fault  in  its 
incukations,  and  this  was,  in  Moore's  case,  peculiarly  so.  Had  he 
not  been  born  in  Kentucky,  these  jockey  tricks  perhaps  would  not 


FIFTY    YEARS.  403 

have  been  a  part  of  his  accomplishments.  For  there,  it  is  said,  no 
boy  is  permitted  to  leave  home  on  a  horse  enterprise  until  he  has 
cheated  his  father  in  a  horse-trade.  Moore  left  the  State  so  young 
that  it  was  by  some  doubted  whether  this  trait  was  innate  or  acquired ; 
but  it  always  distinguished  him,  as  a  Kentuckian  by  birth  at  least. 

He  was  remarkable  for  the  tenacity  of  his  friendships.  He  would 
not  desert  any  one.  It  was  immaterial  what  was  the  character  of  the 
man,  if  he  served  Moore,  Moore  was  his  friend,  and  he  would  cling 
quite  as  close  to  one  in  the  penitentiary  as  in  the  halls  of  Congress. 
It  made  no  difference  whether  he  wore  cloth  or  cottonade,  lived  in 
a  palace  or  pine-pole  cabin,  whether  honest  or  a  thief,  the  touchstone 
to  his  heart  was,  "He  is  my  friend,  and  I  am  at  his  service."  Not 
only  in  this,  but  in  everything  else,  he  strove  to  imitate  his  great 
friend  and  prototype,  General  Jackson.  He  lived  to  be  an  old  man, 
and  among  his  constituents  he  was  great,  and  made  his  mark  in  his 
day  in  the  State.  There  was  some  fun  in  Larry,  but  he  was  the  cause 
of  much  more  in  others.  Larry,  rest  in  peace,  and  light  be  the  sand 
that  lies  on  your  coffin  ! 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

THREE    GREAT    JUDGES. 

A  SPEECH  IN  TWO  LANGUAGES— LONG  SESSIONS— MATTHEWS,  MARTIN,  AND 
PORTER  —  A  SINGULAR  WILL  —  A  SCION  OF  '98  —  FIVE  HUNDRED  DOL- 
LARS FOR  A  LITTLE  FUN  WITH  THE  DOGS  —  CANCELLING  A  NOTE. 


T 


*HE  Legislature  of  Louisiana,  forty  years  ago,  sat  in  New 
__  Orleans,  and  was  constituted  of  men  of  varied  nationalities. 
It  was  common  to  see  in  close  union,  Frenchmen,  Germans,  Italians, 
Englishmen,  and  Americans,  with  here  and  there  a  Scotchman,  with 
his  boat-shaped  head  and  hard  common  sense.  The  Creole-French 
and  the  Americans,  however,  constituted  the  great  majority  of  the 

body. 

When  the  cession  to  the  United  States  took  place,  and  the  colony 
soon  after  was  made  a  State  of  the  Union,  the  Constitution  required 
all  judicial  and  legislative  proceedings  to  be  conducted  in  English, 


404  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

which  was  the  legal  language.  But  as  very  few  of  the  ancient  popu- 
lation could  speak  or  read  English,  it  was  obligatory  on  the  authori- 
ties to  have  everything  translated  into  French.  All  legislative  and 
judicial  proceedings,  consequently,  were  in  two  languages.  This 
imposed  the  necessity  of  having  a  clerk  or  translator^who  could  not 
only  translate  from  the  records,  but  who  could  retain  a  two-hours' 
speech  in  either  language,  and,  immediately  upon  the  speaker's  con- 
cluding, repeat  it  in  the  opposite  language. 

This  complicated  method  of  procedure  consumed  much  time,  and 
consequently  the  sessions  of  the  Legislature  were  protracted  usually 
for  three  months,  and  sometimes  four. 

This  fact  caused  many  planters,  whose  business  called  them  fre- 
quently to  the  city  during  the  winter,  to  become  members  of  the 
Legislature.  At  this  time,  too,  representation  was  based  on  taxation, 
and  the  suffragist  was  he  who  paid  a  tax  to  the  State.  The  revenues 
of  the  State  were  from  taxation,  and  these  taxes  were  levied  alone 
upon  property.  There  were  no  poll  taxes,  and  very  few  articles 
except  land,  negroes,  and  merchandise  were  taxed.  The  conse- 
quence was,  the  government  was  in  the  hands  of  the  property- 
holders  only. 

The  constituency  was  of  a  better  order  than  is  usually  furnished 
by  universal  suffrage,  and  the  representation  was  of  a  much  more 
elevated  character  than  generally  represents  such  a  constituency. 

Party  spirit,  at  that  time,  had  made  little  progress  in  dividing  the 
people  of  the  State,  and  the  gentlemen  representatives  met  cordially, 
and  constituted  an  undivided  society.  There  was  no  division  of  inter- 
est between  different  sections  of  the  State,  and  the  general  good  was 
consulted  by  all.  The  Legislature  was  then  composed  of  substantial 
men.  The  seat  of  government  being  in  the  city,  and  the  sessions 
held  during  the  winter  and  spring  months,  men  of  business,  and 
especially  professional  men,  might  represent  the  city  constituency, 
and  yet  give  a  good  portion  of  their  time  to  their  usual  avocations. 

Good  laws  were  the  consequence ;  and  the  Bench  being  filled  by 
executive  appointment,  with  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  and  their 
tenure  of  office  being  for  life  or  good  behavior,  insured  the  selection 
of  proper  men  for  judges.  The  Supreme  Court  was  composed  at 
that  time  of  three  judges,  Matthews,  Martin,  and  Porter.  Matthews 
was  a  Georgian  by  birth,  Martm  was  a  native  of  France,  and  Porter 
an  Irishman  :  all  of  these  were  remarkable  men,  and  each  in  his  own 


FIFTY     YEARS.  405 

history  illustrative  of  what  energy  and  application  will  effect  for  men, 
when  properly  applied  in  youth. 

Chief-Justice  George  Matthews  was  the  son  of  that  very  remarkable 
man,  Governor  George  Matthews,  of  the  State  of  Georgia.  He  was 
born  in  Oglethorpe  County,  Georgia,  and  received  only  such  educa- 
tion as  at  that  time  could  be  obtained  in  the  common  country  schools 
of  the  State.  He  read  law  in  early  life,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
Bar  of  his  native  State.  His  father  was  Governor  of  the  State  at 
the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  celebrated  Yazoo  Act,  alienating  more 
than  half  of  the  territory  of  the  State. 

This  act  was  secured  from  the  Legislature  by  corruption  of  the 
boldest  and  most  infamous  character.  Governor  Matthews  was  only 
suspected  of  complicity  in  this  transaction  from  the  fact  that  he 
signed  the  bill  as  governor.  His  general  character  was  too  pure  to 
allow  of  suspicion  attaching  to  him  of  corruption  in  the  discharge 
of  the  duties  of  his  office  of  governor. 

At  the  period  of  passing  this  act,  the  United  States  Government 
was  new.  The  States,  under  their  constitutions,  were  hardly  working 
smoothly;  the  entire  system  was  experimental.  The  universal  opinion 
that  the.  people  were  sovereign,  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  every 
public  officer  to  yield  obedience  to  the  will  of  the  majority,  clearly 
expressed,  operated  strongly  upon  the  Executives  of  the  States,  and 
very  few,  then,  attempted  to  impose  a  veto  upon  any  act  of  the 
Legislatures  of  the  different  States.  Tradition  represents  Governor 
Matthews  as  opposed  individually  to  the  act,  but  he  did  not  feel 
himself  justified  in  interposing  a  veto  simply  upon  his  individual 
opinion  of  the  policy  or  propriety  of  the  measure,  especially  when 
he  was  assured  in  his  own  mind  that  the  Legislature  had  not  trans- 
cended their  constitutional  powers  ;  and  this  opinion  was  sustained 
as  correct  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  case 
of  Fletcher  vs.  Peck. 

The  great  unpopularity  of  the  transaction  involved  the  Governor 
and  his  family.  Men  excited  almost  to  frenzy,  never  stay  to  reflect, 
but  madly  go  forward,  and,  in  attempts  to  right  great  wrongs,  commit 
others,  perhaps  quite  as  great  as  those  they  are  seeking  to  remedy. 
Governor  Matthews,  despite  his  Revolutionary  services  and  his  high 
character  for  honesty  and  moral  worth,  never  recovered  from  the 
effects  of  this  frenzy  which  seized  upon  the  people  of  the  State,  and 
is  the  only  one  of  the  early  Governors  of  the  State  who  has  remained 


406  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

unhonored  by  the  refusal  of  the  Legislature,  up  to  this  day,  to  call  or 
name  a  county  for  him.  This  unpopularity  was  keenly  felt  by  the 
children  of  Matthews,  who  were  men  of  great  worth. 

William  H.  Crawford  was  at  this  time  filling  a  large  space  in  the 
public  confidence  of  the  people  of  Georgia,  and  gave  to  Governor 
Matthews  his  confidence  and  friendship.  It  was  he  who  persuaded 
George  Matthews,  the  son,  to  emigrate  to  Louisiana.  He  frankly 
told  him  this  unpopularity  of  his  father  would  weigh  heavily  upon 
him  through  life,  if  he  remained  in  Georgia.  "You  have  talents, 
George,"  said  he,  "and,  what  is  quite  as  important  to  success  in  life, 
common  sense,  with  great  energy :  these  may  pull  you  through  here, 
but  you  will  be  old  before  you  will  reap  anything  from  their  exercise 
in  your  native  State.  These  prejudices  against  your  father  may  die 
out,  but  not  before  most  of  those  who  have  participated  in  them 
shall  have  passed  away :  truth  will  ultimately  triumph,  but  it  will  be 
when  your  father  is  in  the  grave,  and  you  gray  with  years.  To  bear 
and  brave  this  may  be  heroic,  but  very  unprofitable.  I  think  I  have 
influence  enough  with  the  President  to  secure  an  appointment  in 
Louisiana  —  probably  the  judgeship  of  the  Territory,  or  one  of  them. ' ' 

Matthews  feared  his  qualifications  for  such  an  appointment,  and  so 
expressed  himself  to  Crawford.  The  civil  law  was  the  law  of 
Louisiana,  and  he  was  entirely  unacquainted  with  this.  Crawford's 
reply  was  eminently  characteristic.  The  great  principles  of  all  laws 
are  the  same.  Their  object  is  to  enfore  the  right,  and  maintain  im- 
partial justice  between  man  and  man.  In  hearing  a  case,  a  judge  of 
good  common  sense  will  generally  find  out  the  justice  of  the  matter. 
Let  him  decide  right,  and  do  substantial  justice,  and  he  will,  ninety- 
nine  times  out  of  one  hundred,  decide  according  to  law,  whether  he 
knows  anything  about  the  law  or  not.  And  such  a  judge  is  always 
best  for  a  new  country,  or,  in  truth,  for  any  country.  The  appoint- 
ment was  secured,  and  George  Matthews  left  his  native  State  forever. 

Soon  after  reaching  Louisiana,  he  married  Miss  Flower,  of  West 
Feliciana — a  lady  in  every  way  suited  to  him.  She  was  of  fine 
family,  with  strong  mind,  domestic  habits,  and  full  of  energy. 
They  were  very  much  attached  to  each  other,  and  were  happy  and 
prosperous  through  all  the  life  of  the  great  judge.  Mrs.  Matthews 
still  lives,  and  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  her  birthplace, 
and  is  now  active,  useful,  and  beloved  by  all  who  know  her,  though 
extremely  old. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  407 

When  the  Territory  was  organized  into  a  State  under  the  Consti- 
tution, Matthews  was  appointed  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
by  Governor  Claiborne  —  an  office  He  held  through  life,  and  the 
duties  of  which  he  discharged  with  distinguished  ability,  and  to  the 
honor  of  the  State  and  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Bar  and  the 
people. 

The  mind  of  Judge  Matthews  was  strong  and  methodical.  His 
general  character  largely  partook  of  the  character  of  his  mind.  He 
steadily  pursued  a  fixed  purpose,  and  was  prudent,  cautious,  and  con- 
siderate in  all  he  did.  There  was  no  speculation  in  his  mind.  He 
jumped  to  no  conclusions ;  but  examined  well  and  profoundly  every 
question — weighed  well  every  argument;  but  he  never  forgot  the 
advice  of  Mr.  Crawford,  and  sometimes  would  strain  a  point  in 
order  to  effect  strict  and  substantial  justice.  As  a  judge,  he  was 
peculiarly  cautious.  However  intricate  was  any  case,  he  bent  to  it 
his  whole  mind,  and  the  great  effort  was  always  to  learn  the  right  — 
to  sift  from  it  all  the  verbiage  and  ambiguity  which  surrounded  and 
obscured  it,  and  then  to  sustain  it  in  his  decision.  Upright  and 
sincere  in  his  pursuits,  methodical,  with  fixity  of  purpose,  he  was 
never  in  a  hurry  about  anything,  and  was  always  content,  in  his  busi- 
ness, with  moderate  profits  as  the  reward  of  his  labor.  As  a  com- 
panion, he  was  gentle,  kind,  and  eminently  social ;  but  he  gave  little 
time  to  social  entertainments  or  light  amusements.  In  his  decisions 
as  a  judge,  he  established  upon  a  firm  basis  the  laws,  and  the  enlight- 
ened exposition  of  these,  in  their  true  spirit.  A  foundation  was 
given  to  the  jurisprudence  of  the  State  by  this  court,  which  entitles  it 
justly  to  the  appellation  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  to  the  gratitude 
of  the  people  of  the  State. 

The  life  of  Judge  George  Matthews  was  one  of  peculiar  usefulness. 
Learned  and  pure  as  a  judge,  moral  and  upright  as  a  citizen,  affec- 
tionate and  gentle  as  a  husband  and  father,  and  humane  and  indul- 
gent as  a  master,  his  example  as  a  man  was  one  to  be  recommended 
to  every  young  man.  Its  influence  upon  society  was  prominently 
beneficial,  and  was  an  exemplification  of  moral  honesty,  perseverance, 
and  success.  He  won  a  proud  name  as  a  man  and  as  a  jurist,  and  accu- 
mulated a  large  fortune,  without  ever  trenching  upon  the  rights  of 
another.  He  secured  the  confidence  and  affection  of  every  member 
of  his  wife's  family  —  a  very  extensive  one  — and  was  the  benefactor 
of  most  of  them.  He  was  beloved  and  honored  by  all  his  neighbors, 


408  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

through  a  long  life.  In  his  public  duties  and  his  private  relations 
he  never  had  an  imputation  cast  upon  his  conduct,  and  he  died  with- 
out an  enemy. 

Francois  Xavier  Martin  was  a  native  of  France.  In  early  life 
he  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  and  fixed  his  residence  at 
Newbern,  North  Carolina.  He  was  poor,  and  without  a  trade  or 
profession  by  which  to  sustain  himself,  or  to  push  his  fortunes  in  a 
strange  land.  He  labored  under  another  exceedingly  great  obstacle 
to  success :  though  pretty  well  educated,  he  could  not  speak  the  Eng- 
lish language.  But  he  had  a  proud  spirit  and  an  indomitable  will. 
He  sought  employment  as  a  printer,  choosing  this  as  a  means  of  learn- 
ing the  English  language.  Though  he  had  never  fingered  a  type  in 
his  life,  he  had  that  confidence  in  himself  which  inspired  the  con- 
viction that  he  could  overcome  any  difficulty  presenting  itself  between 
his  will  and  success. 

He  found  the  editor  of  the  newspaper  kind,  and  apparently  indif- 
ferent ;  for  he  asked  no  questions  relative  to  his  qualifications  as  a 
printer,  but,  requiring  help,  gave  him  immediate  employment.  He 
went  to  work  —  was  very  slow,  but  very  assiduous  and  constant,  never 
leaving  his  stand  until  he  had  completed  his  work.  There  was  a 
compositor  near  him,  and  he  watched  and  learned  without  asking 
questions.  Owing  to  the  little  English  he  knew,  no  questions  were 
asked  ;  but  it  was  observed  in  the  office  that  he  was  rapidly  improv- 
ing in  this,  and  in  the  facility  of  doing  his  work.  The  paper  was  a 
weekly  one,  consequently  he  had  ample  time  for  his  work,  and  he 
improved  every  moment.  The  many  mistakes  he  made  in  the  begin- 
ning were  attributed  to  his  ignorance  of  the  language,  and  it  was  not 
until  he  became  the  most  expert  compositor  in  the  office  that  it  was 
known  that  he  had  never,  until  he  entered  this  office,  been  in  a  print- 
ing-office. He  was  so  abstemious  in  his  habits  that  those  about  the 
office  wondered  how  he  lived.  He  rarely  left  the  composing-room, 
and,  in  his  moments  of  rest  from  his  work,  was  employed  in  studying 
the  language,  or  reading  some  English  author.  A  bit  of  cheese,  a 
loaf  of  bread,  some  dried  fish,  and  a  cup  of  coflee  constituted  his  bill 
of  fare  for  every  day,  and  these  were  economically  used.  He  never 
spoke  of  home,  of  previous  pursuits,  or  future  intentions.  He  held 
communion  with  no  one  —  his  own  thoughts  being  his  only  com- 
panions—  but  steadily  persevered  in  his  business.  No  amusements 
attracted  him.  He  was  never  at  any  place  of  public  resort.  He  was 


FIFTY     YEARS.  409 

the  talk  of  the  town,  though  none  had  seen  him  unless  they  visited 
the  little,  dirty,  inky  office  in  which  he  was  employed.  He  never 
seemed  to  know  he  was  an  object  of  curiosity,  and  when  — as  some- 
times was  the  case  —  half  a  dozen  persons  would  come  expressly 
to  see  him,  he  never  turned  his  head  from  his  work,  or  seemed  to  be 
conscious  of  their  presence. 

In  this  office  his  progress  was  very  rapid,  and  it  was  not  very  long 
before  he  became  the  foreman  in  the  composing-room.  He  con- 
tinued in  that  capacity  until  he  became  the  owner  of  the  entire 
establishment. 

Not  content  with  the  life  of  a  printer,  he  disposed  of  his  printing 
establishment  and  paper,  and  came  to  New  Orleans.  Before  leaving 
France  he  had  read  some  law,  and  now  he  applied  himself  closely 
to  its  study.  In  a  short  time  he  rose  to  distinction,  and  was  in  a 
lucrative  practice.  It  was  a  maxim  with  Judge  Martin  never  to  be 
idle,  and  never  to  expend  time  or  money  uselessly.  He  found  time 
from  his  professional  duties  to  write  a  history  of  Louisiana,  which  is, 
perhaps,  more  correct  in  its  facts  than  any  history  ever  written. 

Early  deprivations,  and  the  necessity  of  a  most  rigid  economy  to 
meet  the  exigencies  of  this  straitened  condition,  created  habits  of 
abstinence  and  saving  which  he  never  gave  up.  On  the  contrary, 
like  all  habits  long  indulged,  they  became  stronger  and  more  obdu- 
rate as  life  advanced.  Before  his  elevation  to  the  supreme  Bench, 
he  had  accumulated  a  fortune  of  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  he  had  judiciously  invested  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans. 
The  tenure  of  his  office  was  for  life,  and  his  ambition  never  aspired 
to  anything  beyond  ;  but  he  devoted  himself  to  the  duties  of  this  with 
the  assiduity  of  one  determined,  not  only  to  know,  but  faithfully  to 
discharge  them.  Judge  Martin  was  conscientious  in  all  that  he  did 
as  a  man,  and  remarkably  scrupulous  as  a  judge.  He  was  unwill- 
ing to  hasten  his  judgments,  and  sometimes  was  accused  of  tardi- 
ness in  rendering  them.  This  resulted  from  the  great  care  exer- 
cised in  examining  the  merits  of  the  case,  and  to  make  himself  sure 
of  the  law  applicable  to  it. 

The  peculiar  organization  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Louisiana 
imposes  immense  labor  upon  the  judges;  they  are  not  only  charged 
with  the  duty  of  correcting  errors  of  law,  but  the  examination  of  all 
the  facts  and  all  the  testimony  introduced  in  the  trials  in  the  Dis- 
trict Court.  In  truth,  the  case  comes  up  de  now,  and  is  reviewed  as 
35 


410  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

from  the  beginning,  and  a  judgment  made  up  without  regard  to  the 
proceedings  below  further  than  to  determine  from  the  record  of 
facts  and  law  sent  up,  holding  in  all  cases  jurisdiction  as  well  of 
facts  as  law  —  and  in  truth  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  high  court  of 
chancery. 

Judge  Martin  was  fond  of  labor,  but  did  not  like  to  do  the  same 
labor  twice  ;  hence  his  particularity  in  examining  well  both  facts 
and  law,  in  every  case  submitted  for  his  adjudication.  He  wished 
the  law  permanently  established  applicable  to  every  case,  and  disliked 
nothing  so  much  as  being  compelled'  to  overrule  any  previous 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.  His  mind  was  eminently  judicial ; 
its  clear  perceptions  and  analytical  powers  peculiarly  fitted  him  for 
the  position  of  supreme  judge.  But  there  was  another  trait  of  char- 
acter, quite  as  necessary  to  the  incumbent  of  the  Bench,  for  which 
he  was  altogether  as  much  distinguished.  He  was  without  prejudice, 
and  only  knew  men  before  his  court  as  parties  litigant.  It  was  said 
of  him,  by  John  R.  Grymes,  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  New  Orleans, 
that  he  was  better  fitted  by  nature  for  a  judge  than  any  man  who  ever 
graced  the  Bench.  "  He  was  all  head,  and  no  heart." 

This  was  severely  said,  and  to  some  extent  it  was  true,  for  Judge 
Martin  appeared  without  sympathy  for  the  world,  or  any  of  the 
world.  He  had  no  social  habits ;  he  lived  in  seclusion  with  his  ser- 
vant Ben,  a  venerable  negro,  who  served  him  for  all  purposes.  These 
two  had  been  so  long  and  so  intimately  associated,  that  in  habits  and 
want  of  feeling  they  seemed  identical.  Ben  served  him  because  he 
was  his  master  and  could  compel  it.  He  tolerated  Ben  because  he 
could  not  well  do  without  him.  He  kept  an  interest  account  with 
Ben.  He  had  paid  for  him  six  hundred  dollars,  when  first  pur- 
chased. Ten  per  cent,  upon  this  amount  was  sixty  dollars.  His 
insurance  upon  a  life  policy,  which  risk  he  took  himself,  was  one 
hundred  dollars.  His  services  were  regularly  valued  by  what  such  a 
man  would  hire  for.  Ben  accompanied  him  on  the  circuit,  and  died 
at  Alexandria.  When  this  was  told  him,  he  immediately  referred  to 
this  account,  and  declared  he  had  saved  money  by  buying  Ben,  but 
should  be  loser  if  he  paid  his  funeral  expenses,  which  he  declined 
to  do.  Judge  Martin  was  very  near-sighted,  and  it  was  amusing  to 
see  him  with  his  little  basket  doing  his  marketing,  examining  scru- 
pulously every  article,  cheapening  everything,  and  finally  taking  the 
refuse  of  meats  and  vegetables,  rarely  expending  more  than  thirty 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


411 


cents  for  the  .lay's  provisions.  His  penurious  habits  seemed  natural : 
they  had  characterized  him  from  the  moment  he  came  to  the  United 
States,  and  were  then  so  complete  as  not  to  be  intensified  by  age 
and  experience.  For  many  years,  he  had  no  relative  in  this  country, 
and  he  created  no  relations,  outside  of  his  business,  with  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lived.  His  antisocial  nature  and  his  miserable 
manner  of  living  kept  every  one  from  him.  Secluded,  and  studious 
in  his  habits,  he  never  seemed  solitary,  for  his  books  and  papers 
occupied  his  entire  time.  His  thirst  for  knowledge  was  coequal  with 
his  thirst  for  money  — and  why,  no  one  could  tell.  He  never  made 
a  display  of  the  one,  or  any  use  of  the  other  but  to  beget  money. 
There  seemed  an  innate  love  for  both,  and  an  equal  disposition  to 
husband  both. .  He  seemed  to  have  no  ulterior  view  in  hoarding  — 
he  endowed  no  charity,  nor  sought  the  world's  praise  in  the  grave, 
by  building  a  church  or  endowing  a  hospital.  With  mankind,  his 
only  relations  were  professional.  He  never  married,  and  had  no 
taste  for  female  society — was  never  known  to  attend  a  ball  or  private 
party,  to  unite  himself  with  any  society,  or  be  at  a  public  meeting  — 
never  indulged  in  a  joke  or  frivolous  conversation,  and  had  no  use 
for  words  unless  to  expound  law  or  conclude  a  contract ;  strictly 
punctual  to  every  engagement,  but  exceedingly  chary  in  making  any. 

As  Judge  Martin  advanced  in  years,  his  habits  became  more  and 
more  secluded.  He  had  written  for  a  brother,  who  came  to  him 
from  France.  This  brother  was  quite  as  peculiar  as  himself — they 
lived  together,  and  he  in  a  great  degree  substituted  Ben,  at  least  so 
far  as  society  was  concerned.  Now  he  was  rarely  seen  upon  the 
street,  or  mingling  with  any,  save  an  occasional  visit  to  some  mem- 
ber of  the  Bar,  who,  like  himself,  had  grown  old  in  the  harness  of 
the  law.  During  the  early  period  of  the  State  Government  he 
reported  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court :  these  reports  are 
models,  and  of  high  authority  in  the  courts  of  Louisiana. 

Judge  Martin's  mind  was  one  of  peculiar  lucidity  and  extraordi- 
nary vigor ;  its  capacity  to  acquire,  analyze,  and  apply  was  quite 
equal  to  that  of  the  great  Marshall ;  its  power  of  condensation  was 
superior  to  either  of  his  compeers,  while  its  capacity  for  application 
was  never  surpassed.  It  had  been  trained  to  close  and  continuous 
thought,  and  so  long  had  this  habit  been  indulged  that  it  had  be- 
come nature  with  him.  His  phlegmatic  temperament  relieved  him 
from  anything  like  impulsiveness  in  thought  or  action ;  all  work  with 


412  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

him  was  considerately  approached  and  assiduously  performed.  His 
habits  were  temperate  to  austerity,  and  his  mode  of  life  penuriously 
mean ;  but,  as  said  of  another  judge,  this  may  have  been  the  result 
of  habit  growing  from  extreme  necessity — though  the  same  charac- 
teristics were  conspicuous  in  his  brother :  like  the  Judge,  he  was 
unmarried,  and,  though  but  little  younger,  was  always  spoken  to  and 
spoken  of  as  his  boy-brother.  Like  his  confrere,  he  remained  upon 
the  Bench  until  he  died,  which  was  in  extreme  old  age. 

It  has  been  asserted  by  some  thdt  Judge  Martin  soiled  his  repu- 
tation in  his  will.  It  was  a  very  simple  and  brief  will,  giving  all  he 
possessed  to  his  brother,  and  was  autographic — that  is,  written  in 
his  own  hand,  and  signed,  dated,  and  sealed  up,  and  upon  the  back 
of  the  document  written,  "This  is  my  autographic  will,"  and  this 
signed  with  his  own  proper  hand.  Such  a  will  is  almost  impervious 
to  attack  under  the  laws  of  Louisiana, 

The  law  of  Louisiana  levies  a  tax  of  ten  per  cent,  upon  all 
estates  or  legacies  made  to  leave  the  State  for  foreign  countries. 
The  brother  of  Judge  Martin,  as  soon  as  his  will  was  administered 
and  the  proceeds  of  his  estate  were  in  hand,  left  the  United  States  for 
France,  carrying  with  him  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  the  entire 
amount  of  which  the  Judge  died  possessed  ;  and  it  was  subsequently 
ascertained  that  he  had  left  written  instructions  with  his  brother  to 
dispose  among  his  European  relatives  this  sum  in  obedience  to  this 
secret  letter  of  instructions.  This  was  considered  as  his  will  proper; 
and  it  was  contended  that  the  transaction  was  a  fraud,  to  deprive  the 
State  of  the  legal  percentage  upon  the  amount  going  out  of  the 
country.  An  attempt  was  made  to  recover  this  amount  from  his 
executor,  but  failed  ;  and  the  attorney  for  the  State  was  rebuked  by 
the  Supreme  Court  for  attempting  an  imputation  dishonorable  to  the 
character  of  the  deceased  Judge — a  legacy  bequeathed  to  the  State, 
in  the  distinguished  services  rendered  to  her  by  him  and  through  so 
many  years  of  his  life.  The  facts  are  as  stated.  It  is  true,  the  will 
was  a  clear  bequest  of  all  his  estate  to  his  brother,  a  resident  of  the 
State,  and  the  memorandum  a  mere  request,  and  this  might  have 
been  destroyed  or  disobeyed  with  impunity.  The  will  alone  was  the 
authoritative  disposition  of  his  estate;  the  brother  claimed  under  this, 
and  the  property  once  in  his  possession,  it  was  his  to  dispose  of  at 
pleasure. 

The  death  of  Judge  Martin  was  regretted  by  every  one  as  a  serious 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


413 


loss  to  the  State,  though  he  had  attained  very  nearly  to  the  age  of 
fourscore.  He  had  failed,  from  the  entire  want  of  social  and  sym- 
pathetic attributes  in  the  composition  of  his  nature,  to  fasten  himself 
upon  the  affections  of  any  one,  though  he  commanded  the  respect 
of  all  for  the  high  qualities  of  his  intellect,  his  public  services,  and 
the  consistent  honesty  of  his  life.  He  was  followed  to  the  grave  by 
the  entire  Bench  and  Bar,  and  most  of,  the  distinguished  people  of 
his  adopted  city.  But  I  doubt  if  a  tear  was  shed  at  his  funeral.  He 
was  without  the  ties  in  life  which,  sundered  by  death,  wring  tears 
and  grief  from  the  living  who  loved  and  who  have  lost  the  endeared 
one.  All  that  the  head  could  give,  he  had  —  the  heart  denied  him 
all:  in  life  he  had  given  it  to  no  one,  and  his  death  had  touched  no 
heart ;  and  no  tear  embalmed  his  bier,  no  flower  planted  by  affec- 
tion's hand  blooms  about  his  grave.  Still  he  has  left  an  imperishable 
monument  to  his  fame  in  his  judicial  career. 

Alexander  Porter,  the  junior  by  many  years  of  Matthews  and 
Martin,  his  associates  on  the  Bench,  was  an  Irishman  by  birth, 
and  came  in  very  early  life  to  the  United  States.  He  was  the  son 
of  an  Irish  Presbyterian  minister  of  remarkable  abilities  and  great 
learning.  As  a  chemist,  he  was  only  inferior  to  Sir  Humphrey 
Davy,  of  his  day.  During  the  troubles  of  1798,  (since  known 
as  the  rebellion  of  '98,)  he  was  travelling  and  delivering  lec- 
tures upon  chemistry  through  Ireland.  He  fell  under  suspicion  as 
being  an  emissary  of  the  Society  of  United  Irishmen,  who  was 
covering,  under  the  character  of  a  scientific  lecturer,  his  real  mission 
to  stir  up  and  unite  the  Irish  people  in  aid  of  the  views  of  those  who 
were  organizing  the  rebellion.  To  be  suspected  was  to  be  ar- 
rested, and  to  be  arrested  was  wellnigh  equivalent  to  being  exe- 
cuted — sometimes  with  the  mockery  of  a  trial,  and,  where  evidence 
was  wanting  to  fix  suspicion,  even  by  drum-head  court-martial.  This 
latter  was  the  fate  of  the  accomplished  and  learned  Porter.  The 
wrath  of  the  Government  visited  his  family.  The  brother  of  the 
sufferer  collected  his  own  and  the  children  of  his  murdered  brother, 
consisting  of  two  sons  and  several  daughters,  and  emigrated  to  Ame- 
rica. A  number  of  emigrants  from  their  immediate  neighborhood 
had  selected  Nashville,  Tennessee,  as  a  home  in  the  New  World, 
and  thither  he  came. 

The  education  of  Alexander,  the  eldest  of  the  sons,  had  progressed 
considerably  in  Ireland,  and  was  continued  for  some  years  at  Nash- 
35* 


414  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

ville.  Being  poor,  he  was  compelled  to  employ  some  of  his  time  in 
pursuits  foreign  to  study,  in  order  to  supply  him  with  the  means  of 
pursuing  the  latter.  This  education  was  irregular,  but  was  the 
foundation  of  that  which  in  maturer  life  was  most  complete.  He 
studied  law  when  quite  young,  intending  at  first  to  remain  at  Nash- 
ville. %  The  competition  at  the  Bar  in  that  place  was  formidable, 
and  he  could  not  hope  to  succeed  as  his  ambition  prompted,  without 
patient  application  for  years.  Louisiana  had  just  been  ceded  to  the 
United  States,  Mississippi  was  filling  with  population :  both  these 
Territories  would  soon  be  States.  Already  they  were  inviting  fields 
for  enterprise  and  talent,  and  soon  to  be  more  so.  Pondering  these 
facts  in  his  ardent  mind,  and  riding  alone  on  one  occasion  to  a  jus- 
tice's court  in  the  country  to  attend  to  some  trifling  matter,  he  chanced 
to  overtake  General  Jackson.  He  had  been  frequently  importuned 
by  Jackson  to  remove  to  Louisiana.  Jackson  was,  to  some  extent, 
familiar  with  the  country,  had  frequently  visited  it,  and  at  that  time 
was  interested  in  a  retail  store  at  Bruensburg,  a  place  situated  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Bayou  Pierre,  immediately  on  the  bank  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River.  Mentioning  his  wish  to  emigrate  to  some  point  or  place 
where  he  might  expect  more  speedy  success  in  his  profession,  Jack- 
son, with  his  accustomed  ardor  and  emphasis,  advised  him  to  go  to 
one  of  these  new  Territories,  and  in  such  colors  did  he  paint  their 
advantages  and  the  certain  and  immediate  success  of  any  young  man 
of  abilities  and  industry,  that  Porter's  imagination  was  fired,  and  he 
immediately  determined  to  go  at  once  to  one  of  these  El  Dorados  — 
there  to  fix  his  home  and  commence  the  strife  with  fortune,  to  coax 
or  command  her  approving  smiles.  Returning  to  Nashville,  he  com- 
municated his  intentions  to  his  uncle;  they  met  his  approval,  and  in 
a  short  time  he  was  ready  to  leave  in  search  of  a  new  home. 

He  was  about  to  leave  every  friend,  to  find  his  home  in  the  midst 
of  strangers,  without  even  an  acquaintance  to  welcome  and  encour- 
age him.  But  he  was  young,  vigorous,  and  hopeful ;  alive,  too, 
to  all  he  had  to  encounter,  and  determined  to  conquer  it.  Still,  to 
one  of  his  natural  warmth  of  feeling,  the  parting  from  all  he  had 
ever  known,  and  all  on  earth  he  loved,  wrung  his  heart,  and  he 
lingered,  dreading  the  parting  that  was  to  come.  His  kind  and 
devoted  uncle,  his  brothers  he  loved  so  tenderly,  his  sisters,  and 
the  friends  he  had  made,  all  were  to  be  left — and  perhaps  forever. 
There  were  then  no  steamers  to  navigate  the  waters  of  the  West.  He 


FIFTY    YEARS. 


415 


might  float  away,  and  rapidly,  to  his  new  home ;  but  to  return  through 
the  wilderness,  filled  with  savages  and  beset  with  dangers,  was  a 
long  and  hazardous  journey,  and  would  require,  not  only  time,  but 
means,  neither  of  which  were  at  his  command. 

He  met  General  Jackson  again.  "  What !  "  said  he,  "  Alick,  not 
gone  yet?  This  won't  do.  When  you  determine,  act  quickly;  some- 
body may  get  in  before  you.  And  remember,  Alick,  you  are  going 
to  a  new  country  —  and  a  country,  too,  where  men  fight.  You  will 
find  a  different  people  from  those  you  have  grown  ahiong,  and  you 
must  study  their  natures,  and  accommodate  yourself  to  them.  If 
you  go  to  Louisiana,  you  will  find  nearly  all  the  people  French ; 
they  are  high-minded,  and  fight  at  the  drop  of  a  hat;  and  now  let 
me  tell  you,  it  is  always  best  to  avoid  a  fight;  but  sometimes  it  can't 
be  done,  and  then  a  man  must  stand  up  to  it  like  a  man.  But  let 
me  tell  you,  Alick,  there  are  not  half  the  men  who  want  to  fight  that 
pretend  to ;  you  can  tell  this  by  their  blustering.  Now,  when  you 
find  one  of  these,  and  they  are  mighty  common,  just  stand  right  up 
to  him,  and  always  appear  to  get  madder  than  he  does  —  look  him 
right  in  the  eye  all  the  time ;  but  remember  to  keep  cool,  for  some- 
times a  blusterer  will  fight ;  so  keep  cool,  and  be  ready  for  anything. 
But,  Alick,  the  best  way  of  all  is  to  fight  the  first  man  that  offers, 
and  do  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  let  everybody  know  you  will  fight,  and 
you  will  not  be  much  bothered  after  that.  Now,  Alick,  you  will 
hear  a  great  deal  of  preaching  against  fighting — well,  that  is  all 
right ;  but  I  tell  you  the  best  preacher  among  them  all  loves  a  man 
who  will  fight,  a  thousand  times  more  than  he  does  a  coward  who 
won't.  All  the  world  respects  a  brave  man,  because  all  the  better 
qualities  of  human  nature  accompany  courage.  A  brave  man  is  an 
honest  man ;  he  is  a  good  husband,  a  good  neighbor,  and  a  true 
friend.  You  never  saw  a  true  woman  who  did  not  love  a  brave  man. 
And  now  do  you  be  off  at  once,  look  for  a  good  place,  and  when 
you  stop,  stop  to  stay ;  and  let  all  you  say  and  all  you  do  look  to 
your  advantage  in  the  future." 

Long  years  after  this  parting  scene,  and  when  Porter  had  become 
a  national  man,  he  used  to  love  to  recount  this  conversation  to  his 
friends,  and  the  impression  it  created  upon  his  mind  of  the  wonder- 
ful man  who  had  so  freely  advised  him. 

When  Porter  came,  he  explored  the  entire  country,  and  selected 
for  his  home  Opelousas,  the  seat  of  justice  for  the  parish  of  St. 


416  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

Landry.  To  reach  this  point  from  New  Orleans,  at  that  time, 
required  no  ordinary  exertion.  He  came  first  to  Donaldsonville, 
where  he  hired  a  man  to  bring  him  in  a  small  skiff  to  the  court- 
house of  the  parish  of  Assumption.  There  he  employed  an- 
other to  transport  him  through  the  Verret  Canal  to  the  lakes,  and 
on  through  these  to  Marie  Jose"s  landing,  in  Attakapas ;  then  another 
was  engaged  to  take  him  up  the  Teche  to  St.  Martinsville,  and  from 
there  he  went  by  land  to  Opelousas.  This  route  is  nearly  three  hun- 
dred miles. 

The  banks  of  the  Teche  he  found  densely  populated  with  a  people 
altogether  different  in  appearance,  and  speaking  a  language  scarcely 
one  word  of  which  he  understood,  and  in  everything  different  from 
anything  he  had  ever  before  seen :  added  to  this,  he  found  them 
distrustful,  inhospitable,  and  hating  the  Americans,  to  whose  domin- 
ion they  had  been  so  recently  transferred. 

He  used  to  relate  an  anecdote  of  this  trip,  in  his  most  humorous 
manner.  "  I  had,"  he  said,  "  been  all  day  cramped  up  in  the  stern 
of  a  small  skiff,  in  the  broiling  sun,  with  nothing  to  drink  but  the 
tepid  water  of  the  Teche.  I  was  weary  and  half  sick,  when  I  came  to 
the  front  of  a  residence,  which  wore  more  the  appearance  of  com- 
fort and  respectability  than  any  I  had  passed  during  the  day.  It  was 
on  Sunday,  and  there  were  a  number  of  decently  dressed  people, 
young  and  old,  upon  the  gallery  or  piazza,  and  there  were  great 
numbers  of  cattle  grazing  out  on  the  prairie.  Here,  I  thought,  I 
may  find  some  cool  water,  and  perhaps  something  to  mix  with  it.  I 
landed,  and  went  to  the  front  gate,  and  called.  This  was  quite  near 
the  house,  and  I  thought  some  one  said,  'Come  in.'  I  opened  the 
gate,  and  started  for  the  house.  At  this  juncture,  a  tall,  dark  man, 
wearing  a  very  angry  look,  came  from  the  interior  of  the  house,  and 
stopping  at  the  gallery  door,  looked  scowlingly  down  upon  me  as  I 
approached  the  steps.  '  Arritcz  ! '  he  said,  waving  his  hand.  This 
wave  I  understood,  but  not  the  word,  and  stopped.  He  spoke  to 
me  in  French :  I  did  not  understand.  I  asked  for  water :  this  he  did 
not  understand,  as  it  was  pronounced  with  considerable  of  the  brogue. 
Turning  abruptly  round,  he  called  aloud,  '  Pierre  /'  and  a  negro 
man  came  out,  who  was  directed  to  ask  me  what  I  wanted.  I  told 
nim,  water:  this  he  translated  for  his  master.  He  spoke  again  angrily 
to  the  negro,  who  told  me  there  was  water  in  the  bayou.  'Then,  can 
I  get  a  little  butter-milk?'  I  asked.  As  soon  as  this  was  translated 


FIFTY     YEARS.  417 

to  him,  he  flew  into  a  violent  rage,  and  commenced  gesticulating 
passionately.  '  You  better  run,  sir,'  said  the  negro,  '  he  call  de  dogs 
for  bite  you.'  I  heard  the  yelp  in  the  back  yard,  and  started  for  the 
gate  with  a  will :  it  was  time,  for  in  a  moment  there  were  a  dozen 
lean  and  vicious  curs  at  my  heels,  squalling  and  snapping  with  angry 
determination.  I  fortunately  reached  the  gate  in  time  to  close  it 
behind  me  and  shut  off  my  pursuers,  amid  the  laughter  and  gibes  of 
those  in  the  gallery.  I  took  my  boat,  and  a  few  miles  above  found 
a  more  hospitable  man,  who  gave  me  my  dinner,  plenty  of  milk,  and 
a  most  excellent  glass  of  brandy.  I  inquired  the  name  of  the  brute, 
and  recorded  it  in  my  memory  for  future  use.  Ten  years  after  that, 
he  came  into  my  office,  and  told  me  he  wished  to  have  my  services 
as  a  lawyer.  He  had  quarrelled  with  his  wife,  and  they  had  sepa- 
rated. She  was  suing  him  for  a  separation,  and  property,  dotal  and 
paraphernal.  If  she  recovered,  and  there  were  strong  reasons  for 
supposing  she  would,  he  was  mined. 
"  '  Why  do  you  come  to  me  ? '  I  asked. 

"'Ah!  Advocat  Porter,  my  friend  tell  me  you  de  best  lawyer, 
and  in  my  trouble  I  want  de  best.'  He  stated  his  case,  and  I  told 
him  I  would  undertake  it  fot  a  thousand  dollars. 

"  '  Mon  dieu  ! '  he  exclaimed,  with  a  desponding  shrug,  '  it  is  not 
possible  to  me  for  pay  so  much. ' 

"  '  Then  you  must  employ  some  one  else.' 

"'But  dere  is  none  else  dat  be  so  good  like  you.  Monsieur 
Brent  is  for  rny  wife  —  Got  damn! — an'  you  is  de  best  now,  so 
my  friend  tell  me.' 

"  '  Very  well,  then,  if  you  want  my  services,  you  must  pay  for 
them ;  and  you  had  better  come  to  terms  at  once,  for  here  is  a  note 
which  I  have  just  received  from  Mr.  Brent,  telling  me  he  wishes  to 
see  me,  and  I  expect  it  is  to  engage  me  to  assist  him  in  this  very 
case.' 

"  '  O  mon  ditu!  mon  dieu!'  he  exclaimed,  in  agony.  'Veil,  I 
shall  give  you  one  thousand  dollar.' 

"  I  immediately  wrote  a  note  for  the  amount,  payable  when  the 
suit  was  determined  ;  but  it  was  with  great  difficulty  I  could  induce 
him  to  sign  it.  At  length  he  did,  however,  and  I  gained  his  case  for 
him.  He  came  punctually  to  pay  his  note.  When  I  had  the  money 
in  hand,  I  told  him  I  had  charged  him  five  hundred  dollars  for 
attending  to  his  case,  and  five  hundred  for  setting  his  dogs  on  me. 
*B 


41 8  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

'"I  been  tink  dat  all  de  time,1  he  said,  as  he  left  the  office." 
There  were  then  several  men  of  eminence  at  the  Bar  in  the  Ope- 
lousas  and  Attakapas  country  —  Brent,  Baker,  Bowen,  and  Bronson. 
The  superior  abilities  of  Porter  soon  began  to  be  acknowledged. 
His  practice  increased  rapjdly,  and  when  a  convention  was  called  to 
form  a  constitution  for  the  State  of  Louisiana,  Porter  was  elected 
from  Opelousas  as  a  delegate.  Still  very  ytoung,  and  scarcely  known 
in  the  city  or  along  the  coast  parishes,  he  came  unheralded  by  any 
extraordinary  reputation  for  abilities.  Very  soon,  however,  he  was 
taking  the  lead  amid  the  best  talent  in  the  State. 

In  every  feature  of  this  Constitution  the  mind  of  Porter  is  apparent ; 
and  to-day,  to  one  who  has  witnessed  the  forming  and  passing  away 
of  many  constitutions,  and  their  effect  upon  public  morals  and  the 
general  interests  of  the  country,  it  appears  the  best  that  was  ever 
given  to  a  State  in  this  Union.  To  those  who  were  most  active  in 
the  formation  of  this  Constitution,  and  who  had  most  at  heart  the 
protection  of  every  interest  in  the  State,  the  judicial  system  was  most 
interesting.  The  preserving  of  the  civil  law  as  the  law  of  the  land, 
and  which  was  guaranteed  by  the  treaty  of  cession,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  engraft  American  ideas  upon  that  system,  was  a  delicate  and 
difficult  matter.  The  French  and  the  French  Creoles  were  desirous 
of  retaining  as  much  of  French  law  and  French  ideas  as  possible. 
To  these  they  had  always  been  accustomed  :  they  thought  them  best, 
and  were  very  loath  to  permit  innovations.  A  written  constitution 
was  to  these  people  entirely  a  new  thing.  Accustomed  to  almost 
absolute  power  in  the  hands  of  their  Governors,  with  his  council  — 
these  being  appointed  by  the  Crown,  to  which  they  owed  allegiance 
—  they  could  hardly  comprehend  a  constitutional  representative 
form  of  government,  and,  naturally  distrustful  of  the  Americans, 
they  feared  every  move  on  their  part.  Porter  was  an  Irishman,  and 
they  distrusted  him  and  Henry  Johnson  less  than  any  others  of  the 
convention  speaking  the  English  language.  Where  a  difference  of 
opinion  seemed  irreconcilable  between  the  two  interests,  Porter  was 
generally  the  referee,  and  he  was  always  successful  in  reconciling 
these  disputes,  and  bringing  both  parties  to  the  support  of  his  own 
views,  which  were  those  generally  between  the  two  extremes.  In 
this  way  he  succeeded  in  having  a  constitution  framed  as  he  wished 
it,  upon  the  organization  of  the  State  Government.  Under  this  Con- 
stitution, with  Matthews  and  Martin,  he  was  placed  upon  the  Bench 


FIFTY   YEARS. 


419 


of  the  Supreme  Court.  Here  he  remained  for  many  years ;  but  his 
ambition  sought  distinction  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  he 
resigned  his  seat  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States. 

He  had,  years  before,  married  the  sister  of  Isaac  L.  Baker,  of  the 
Attakapas  country,  by  whom  he  had  two  daughters.  One  of  them 
had  died  in  early  life  ;  the  other  —  a  most  lovely  woman  —  was  under 
the  care  of  his  maiden  sister,  who  resided  with  him,  and  had  charge 
of  his  household  until  her  death.  Subsequently  to  the  death  of  this 
lady,  this  only  child  was  married  to  Mr.  Alston,  of  South  Carolina, 
but  survived  her  marriage  only  a  short  time,  dying  childless. 

He  was  successful  in  his  canvass  for  the  Senate,  and  in  that  body 
he  soon  became  prominent  as  an  orator  of  great  powers,  and  as  a 
most  active  business  man.  It  was  here  the  long-existing  acquaintance 
with  Mr.  Clay  ripened  into  deep  friendship.  Porter  had  always  been 
the  supporter  of  the  views  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  during  his  six  years'  ser- 
vice in  the  Senate,  he  gave  a  hearty  and  efficient  support  to  the 
measures  representing  the  policy  of  that  great  statesman. 

After  the  expiration  of  his  senatorial  term  he  retired  with  an 
exhausted  constitution  to  his  elegant  home  in  the  parish  of  St.  Mary, 
where  he  devoted  himself  to  his  planting  interest,  now  very  large. 
After  the  death  of  his  daughter,  his  health  declined  rapidly;  yet,  not- 
withstanding his  debilitated  condition,  he  was  chosen  by  a  Demo- 
cratic Legislature,  a  second  time,  as  senator  to  the  United  States 
Congress ;  but  he  never  took  his  seat.  Just  before  the  meeting  of 
Congress,  he  visited  Philadelphia  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  medi- 
cal advice.  Dr.  Chapman  made  a  thorough  examination  of  his  case, 
which  he  pronounced  ossification  of  the  arteries  of  the  heart,  and 
which  was  rapidly  progressing.  He  advised  the  Judge  to  return 
immediately  home,  and  not  to  think  of  taking  his  seat  in  the  Senate, 
as  he  was  liable  to  die  at  any  moment,  and  certainly  must  die  in  a 
very  short  time.  He  left  immediately  for  his  home. 

Some  years  before  this,  Mr.  Clay  found  himself  so  embarrassed 
that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  apply  to  his  friends  for  aid.  Judge 
Porter  came  forward  and  loaned  him  a  large  sum,  for  which  he  held 
his  note.  Upon  reaching  Maysville,  in  descending  the  Ohio,  on  his 
return  from  Philadelphia,  Porter  debarked,  and  went,  by  stage,  to 
Lexington,  where  he  visited  Mr.  Clay,  and  spent  one  night  with  him. 
Finding  his  disease  increasing,  and  fearing,  unless  he  hurried,  that  he 


42O  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

might  never  reach  home,  he  declined  a  longer  visit.  When  in  the 
carriage,  (so  it  was  stated  at  the  time,  but  I  do  not  vouch  for  the 
fact,)  he  took  the  hand  of  Mr.  Clay,  and,  pressing  it  tenderly,  said, 
"  Farewell  until  eternity  !  "  and  bade  the  boy  drive  on.  Mr.  Clay 
found  his  note  left  in  his  hand,  marked  across  the  face,  "  Paid." 

On  reaching  home,  his  health  seemed  for  a  short  time  to  rally ; 
but  he  began  again  to  sink.  Finding  it  impossible  to  lie  down  to 
sleep,  he  anticipated  speedy  dissolution.  As  a  politician,  he  had 
been  greatly  harassed  by  a  dissolute  press,  and,  as  a  lawyer  and 
prominent  man,  he  had  made  some  enemies.  Among  these  was 
Thomas  H.  Lewis,  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  Opelousas,  who,  of  all 
his  enemies,  he  hated  most,  and  he  was  an  honest  hater.  A  clergy- 
man was  spending  some  time  with  him,  and  apprehending  that  he 
might  pass  suddenly  away,  remained,  in  company  with  Mr.  James 
Porter,  his  brother,  almost  constantly  with  him.  Only  a  day  or  two 
anterior  to  his  death,  after  some  conversation  upon  the  subject  of  the 
great  change,  leaning  back  in  his  reclining  easy-chair,  he  seemed  to 
forget  the  presence  of  these  two,  and,  after  remaining  for  more  than 
an  hour  entirely  silent,  without  moving  or  opening  his  eyes,  he  com- 
menced to  speak,  as  if  communing  with  himself.  "  I  have,"  he  said, 
"  retrospected  all  my  life,  and  am  satisfied.  Many  things  I  have 
done  I  should  not ;  but  they  were  never  from  a  bad  motive.  I  have 
accomplished  more  than  my  merits  were  entitled  to.  To  the  incon- 
siderate generosity  of  the  people  of  Louisiana  I  owe  much  of  the 
success  of  my  life.  I  have  filled  the  highest  offices  in  their  gift,  the 

ties  of  which  I  have  faithfully  discharged  to  the  best  of  my  abilities, 
,  I  believe,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people  of  the  State.  I  have 
differed  with  many  of  my  fellow-citizens,  and  some  of  them  are  my 
enemies ;  but  from  my  heart  I  have  forgiven  them  all,  as  I  hope  to 
be  forgiven  by  them,  and  by  my  God,  before  whom  I  must  in  a  few 
hours  appear."  He  paused  many  minutes,  and  then  emphatically 
added:  "Yes,  Lord,  even  Tom  Lewis." 

The  opinions  of  Judge  Porter  in  the  reports  of  the  decisions  of 
the  Supreme  Court  are  magnificent  specimens  of  learning,  logic,  and 
eloquence.  Of  every  question  he  took  a  bold  and  comprehensive 
view,  and  the  perspicuity  of  his  style  and  the  clearness  of  his  ideas 
made  all  he  wrote  comprehensible  to  the  commonest  capacity.  In 
his  decisions  he  was  merciless  toward  a  suitor  where  he  discovered 
fraud,  or  the  more  guilty  crime  of  perjury.  His  wit  was  like  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  421 

sword  of  Saladin  :  its  brilliancy  was  eclipsed  by  the  keenness  of  the 
edge.  In  debate  he  was  brilliant  and  convincing;  in  argument, 
cogent  and  lucid  ;  in  declamation,  fervid  and  impassioned,  abound- 
ing in  metaphor,  and  often  elucidating  a  position  with  an,  apposite 
anecdote,  both  pointed  and  amusing.  His  memory  was  wonderful, 
and  his  reading  extensive  and  diversified.  He  had  so  improved  the 
defective  education  of  his  youth  as  to  be  not  only  classical,  but 
learned.  Impulsive  and  impetuous,  he  was  sometimes  severe  and 
arrogant  toward  his  inferiors  who  presumed  too  much  upon  his  for- 
bearance. In  his  feelings  and  social  associations  he  was  aristocratic 
and  select.  He  could  not  tolerate  presumptuous  ignorance ;  but  to  the 
modest  and  unobtrusive  he  was  respectful  and  tolerant.  For  the  whin- 
ing hypocrisy  of  pretended  piety  he  had  the  loftiest  contempt,  while 
he  gave  not  only  his  confidence,  but  his  most  sincere  respect,  to  him 
whose  conduct  squared  with  his  religious  professions.  He  was  a  Prot- 
estant in  religion,  as  his  father  had  been ;  but  was  superior  to  bigotry 
or  the  intolerance  of  little  minds  and  lesser  souls.  Like  all  men  of 
exalted  genius,  he  was  erratic  at  times,  and  uncertain  in  his  temper. 
He  died  without  pain,  bequeathing  his  large  estate  to  his  brother, 
with  legacies  to  his  sister  in  Ireland,  and  to  some  friends  there.  To 
Mr.  Clay  he  left  his  great  diamond  ring.  He  had,  at  his  death, 
attained  only  to  the  age  oC  fifty-seven  years.  Like  Judge  Martin,  his 
besetting  sin  was  love  of  money ;  but  he  was  not  a  miser.  To  his 
slaves  he  was  remarkably  kind  and  indulgent,  never  permitting  them 
to  be  persecuted  by  any  one,  and  always  treating  them  with  paternal 
kindness — attentive  to  their  comfort,  furnishing  them  with*%ood 
houses,  beds,  and  an  abundance  of  food  and  clothing  —  indeed,  withi 
everything  which  could  contribute  to  their  comfort  or  happiness. 
His  hospitality  was  not  surpassed  by  any  gentleman  in  all  the  land. 
All  who  have  visited  at  Woodlawn,  the  beautiful  and  beautifully 
improved  residence  of  Judge  Porter,  will  remember  the  warm  Irish 
welcome  and  luxurious  hospitality  of  its  accomplished  and  talented 
master. 

Thus  have  I  attempted  a  slight  sketch  of  the  characters,  minds, 
peculiarities,  and  services  of  these  eminent  men  and  jurists,  who 
reduced  to  order  and  form  the  jurisprudence  of  Louisiana.  It  was  the 
eminent  abilities  and  extensive  legal  learning  for  which  they  were  so 
eminently  distinguished,  as  well  as  the  stern  integrity  of  each  one  of 
them,  which  prompted  the  executive  of  the  State  to  select  them  for  this 
36 


422 


THE     MEMORIES     OF 


delicate  and  onerous  position.  At  this  time,  there  were  not  three 
other  men  in  the  State  combining  so  fully  all  these  traits.  Their  long 
continuance  in  office  systematized  the  law  and  the  proceedings  in  the 
courts,  making  order  out  of  chaos,  and  building  up  a  jurisprudence  not 
inferior  to  that  of  any  country.  Under  the  peculiar  circumstances, 
this  was  no  very  easy  or  enviable  task.  The  country  was  now  Ameri- 
can, and  it  was  important  that  the  judicial  system  should  approximate 
as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  American  system,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
preserve  the  civil  law  as  the  law  of  the  land.  This  law  is  a  most  beau- 
tiful system  of  equity,  and  is  disrobed  of  many  of  the  difficulties  which 
surround  the  common  law,  and  which  oblige  in  every  common-law 
country  a  separate  and  distinct  system  of  equity. 

The  criminal  code  was  that  of  the  common  law.  It  was  so  rad- 
ically different  from  that  which  had  heretofore  prevailed  in  the 
country,  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary,  in  order  to  secure  to  the 
accused  the  trial  by  jury,  that  this  change  should  be  made. 

Owing  to  the  extended  commerce  of  New  Orleans,  many  cases 
arose  of  contracts  made  in  the  common-law  States,  and  this  must  con- 
trol these  cases.  To  reconcile  and  blend  the  two  systems  became, 
in  many  of  these,  a  necessity.  To  do  this  required  a  knowledge  of 
both  on  the  part  of  the  judges,  and  this  knowledge,  in  order  that  no 
error  might  misdirect,  should  be  thorough.  It  was  happily  accom- 
plished, and  now  the  system  is  clear  and  fixed,  and  will  remain  a 
monument  to  the  learning  and  genius  of  this  court. 

Of  the  three  judges,  Matthews  alone  left  descendants,  and  he  but 
two  —  a  son,  who  soon  followed  him  to  the  grave,  and  a  daughter, 
who  is  still  living,  the  accomplished  lady  of  Major  Chase,  formerly 
of  the  engineer  corps  of  the  army  of  the  United  States. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  423 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

AMERICANIZING    LOUISIANA. 

POWERS  OF  LOUISIANA  COURTS  — GOVERNOR  WILLIAM  C.C.  CLAIBORNE— CRUEL 
O'REII.LV  —  LEFRENIER  AND  NOYAN  EXECUTED  —  A  DUTCH  JUSTICE  — 
EDWARD  LIVINGSTON  — A  CARICATURE  OF  GENERAL  JACKSON  —  STEPHEN 
MA/EREAU  — A  SPEECH  IN  THREE  LANGUAGES  —  JOHN  R.  GRYMES  — SET- 
TLING A  CA.  SA.  —  BATTURB  PROPERTY  —  A  HUNDRED  THOUSAND  DOLLAR 
FEE. 

THE  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Louisiana  differs  in  this 
from  that  of  the  other  States :  it  has  jurisdiction  as  well  of  the 
facts  as  of  the  law. 

In  the  trial  of  all  cases  in  the  district  or  lower  courts,  the  testimony 
is  made  a  part  of  the  record,  and  goes  up  to  the  Supreme  Courffor 
supervision,  as  well  as  for  the  enlightenment  of  the  court,  which 
passes  upon  the  facts  as  well  as  the  law ;  thus  making  the  judges 
in  the  lower  courts  merely  masters  in  chancery,  with  the  exception, 
that  where  the  decision  of  the  judge  is  considered  correct,  it  is 
approved  and  made  the  judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

This  court,  by  reason  of  its  very  extraordinary  powers,  becomes  of 
the  highest  importance  to  every  citizen,  and  is  really  by  far  the  most 
important,  as  it  is  the  most  responsible  branch  of  the  Government. 

The  executive  can  only  execute  the  law ;  the  legislative  acts  are 
revisable  and  amendable,  so  often  as  the  Legislature  holds  its  ses- 
sions; but  the  judicial  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  become  the 
permanent  law  of  the  land.  True,  these  decisions  may  be  revised 
and  overruled,  but  this  is  not  likely  to  be  done  by  those  judges  who 
have  made  them,  and  the  tenure  of  office  is  such  as  practically  to  make 
them  permanent. 

Under  the  first  Constitution  of  the  State,  these  judges  we're  nomi- 
nated by  the  executive,  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate.  This  Senate 
consisted  of  seventeen  members,  chosen  by  the  people  from  senatorial 
districts  containing  a  large  area  of  territory  and  a  numerous  popu- 
lation. This  concentration  of  responsibility  insured  the  selection  of 
men  of  the  first  abilities,  attainments,  and  moral  character.  So  long 
as  this  system  obtained,  the  Supreme  Bench  was  ably  filled,  and  its 


424  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

duties  faithfully  and  wisely  discharged,  with  one  exception  only;  but 
for  the  sake  of  those  who,  though  not  blamable,  would  be  deeply 
wounded,  I  forbear  further  remark. 

Governor  William  C.  C.  Claiborne,  who  was  the  Territorial 
Governor,  was  elected  by  acclamation  the  first  Governor  of  the  State. 
He  was  a  Virginian  and  a  man  of  fine  attainments.  His  peculiar 
temperament  was  well  suited  to  the  Creole  population,  and  identifying 
himself  with  that  population  by  intermarrying  with  one  of  the  most 
respectable  families  of  New  Orleans,  and  studiously  devoting  himself 
to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  office,  he  assumed  some  state  in 
his  style  of  living,  and  when  going  abroad  kept  up  something  of 
the  regality  of  his  colonial  predecessors.  Thus  suiting  the  taste  and 
genius  of  the  people,  and  in  some  degree  comporting  with  what  they 
had  been  accustomed  to,  at  the  same  time  assuming  great  affability 
of  manner,  both  in  private  and  in  the  discharge  of  his  public  duties, 
he  rendered  himself  extremely  popular  with  both  populations. 

Governor  Claiborne  studiously  promoted  harmony  between  the 
people  of  the  different  races  constituting  the  population  of  the  State, 
and  especially  that  of  New  Orleans.  The  State  had  been  under  the 
dominion  of  three  separate  nations.  The  mass  of  the  population, 
originally  French,  very  reluctantly  yielded  to  Spanish  domination, 
and  not  without  an  attempt  at  resistance.  For  a  time  this  had  been 
successful  in  expelling  a  hated  Governor;  but  the  famous  O'Reilly, 
succeeding  to  the  governorship  of  the  colony,  came  with  such  a  force 
as  was  irresistible,  suppressing  the  armed  attempt  to  reclaim  the 
colony  from  Spanish  rule.  He  made  prisoners  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
malecontents,  with  Lefrenier  at  their  head,  and  condemned  them  to 
be  shot.  One  of  these  was  Noyan,  the  son-in-law  of  Lefrenier.  He 
was  a  young  man,  and  but  recently  united  to  the  beautiful  and  accom- 
plished daughter  of  the  gallant  Lefrenier.  His  youth,  his  chivalry, 
and  extraordinary  intrepidity  excited  the  admiration  of  the  cold,  cruel 
O'Reilly,  and  he  was  offered  a  pardon.  He  refused  to  accept  it,  un 
less  mercy  should  be  extended  to  his  father-in-law:  this  having  been 
denied,  he  was  executed,  holding  in  his  own  the  hand  of  Lefrenier, 
defiantly  facing  his  executioners  and  dying  with  Roman  firmness. 

This  bloody  tragedy  was  transacted  upon  the  square  in  front  of  the 
Cathedral,  where  now  stands  the  colossal  statue  of  Andrew  Jackson, 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  lovely  and  beautiful  shrubs  and  flowers 
indigenous  to  the  soil  of  Louisiana.  The  orange,  with  her  pale  green 


FIFTY     YEARS.  425 

foliage,  and  sweet,  modest  white  flowers,  so  delicate  and  so  delicious; 
the  oleander,  the  petisporum,  and  roses  of  every  hue  unite  their  foli- 
age and  blend  their  fragrance  to  enchant  and  delight  the  eye  and 
sense,  and  to  contrast  too  the  scene  of  carnage  once  deforming  and 
outraging  this  Eden  spot. 

Scarcely  had  the  people  become  reconciled  to  Spanish  domination, 
before  the  colony  was  retroceded  to  France,  and  again  in  no  great 
while  ceded  to  the  United  States. 

The  French  were  prejudiced  against  the  Spaniards  and  despised 
them,  and  now  the  Americans  were  flowing  into  the  country  and  city, 
with  manners  and  customs  intolerable  to  both  French  and  Spaniards, 
hating  both  and  being  hated  by  both,  creating  a  state  of  society  pain- 
fully unpleasant,  and  apparently  irreconcilable. 

This  state  of  affairs  made  the  Governor's  position  anything  but 
pleasant.  But  distressing  as  it  was,  he  accomplished  more  in  pre- 
serving harmony  than  one  well  acquainted  with  the  facts  would  have 
deemed  possible. 

In  doing  this  he  was  skilful  enough  to  preserve  his  popularity,  and 
secure  his  election  to  the  Gubernatorial  chair  upon  the  formation  of 
the  State.  Indeed,  so  great  was  his  popularity,  that  it  was  said  some 
aspirants  to  Gubernatorial  honors  incorporated  the  clause  in  the  Con- 
stitution which  makes  the  Governor  ineligible  to  succeed  himself, 
lest  Claiborne  should  be  perpetual  Governor. 

Few  men  ever  lived  who  could  so  suit  themselves  to  circumstances 
as  Governor  Claiborne.  There  was  a  strange  fascination  in  his 
manners,  and  a  real  goodness  of  heart,  which  spell-bound  every  one 
who  came  within  the  range  of  his  acquaintance.  He  granted  a  favor 
in  a  manner  that  the  recipient  forever  felt  the  obligation,  and  when 
he  refused  one,  it  was  with  such  apparent  regret  as  to  make  a  friend. 
He  sincerely  desired  the  best  interest  of  every  one,  and  promoted  it 
whenever  he  could.  It  was  said  of  him  that  he  never  refused,  but 
always  promised,  and  always  fulfilled  his  promise  whenever  it  was 
in  his  power. 

When  coming  to  take  charge  of  the  Territorial  Government  he 
stopped  at  Baton  Rouge,  and  spent  the  night  with  an  honest  Dutchman 
who  kept  entertainment  for  travellers.  In  the  morning,  when  his  guest 
was  leaving,  learning  his  official  character,  he  took  him  aside,  and 
solicited  the  appointment  of  justice  of  the  peace  for  Baton  Rouge. 
"Certainly,  sir,"  said  the  Governor,  "certainly;"  and  the  Dutch- 
36* 


426  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

man,  supposing  the  appointment  made,  hoisted  his  sign  above  his  door, 
and  continued  to  administer  justice  in  his  way  until  his  death,  with- 
out ever  being  questioned  as  to  the  nature  of  his  appointment.  The 
Governor  never  thought  a  second  time  of  the  promise. 

The  selection  and  appointment  of  Governor  Claiborne  for  the 
very  delicate  duties  devolving  on  an  American  governor,  with  such 
a  population  as  then  peopled  Louisiana,  showed  great  wisdom  and 
prudence  in  Mr.  Jefferson  :  he  was  to  reconcile  discordant  materials 
within  the  Territory,  and  reconcile  all  to  the  dominion  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  to  introduce,  with  great  caution,  the  institutions  of 
a  representative  republican  form  of  government  among  a  people  who 
had  never  known  any  but  a  despotic  government ;  whose  language 
and  religion  were  alien  to  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  the  nation. 
An  American  Protestant  population  was  hurrying  to  the  country, 
and  of  all  difficulties  most  difficult,  to  reconcile  into  harmonious 
action  two  antagonistic  religions  in  the  same  community  is  certainly 
the  one.  Claiborne  accomplished  all  this.  His  long  continuance 
in  office  showed  his  popularity,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  people 
and  Territory,  his-  wisdom. 

In  all  his  appointments  he  exercised  great  discretion,  and  in 
almost  every  case  his  judgment  and  wisdom  were  manifested  in  the 
result ;  and  to  this  day  his  name  is  revered  and  his  memory  cherished 
as  a  benefactor.  He  was  twice  married,  and  left  two  sons — one  by 
each  marriage;  both  live,  highly  respected,  and  very  worthy  citizens 
of  the  city  of  their  birth.  His  name  is  borne  by  one  of  the  finest 
parishes  of  the  State  and  one  of  the  most  beautiful  streets  in  the  city 
of  New  Orleans,  and  no  man  ever  deserved  more  this  high  and 
honorable  commemoration  from  a  grateful  people  than  did  William 
C.  C.  Claiborne. 

Among  those  most  conspicuous  in  Americanizing  the  State  and 
city  at  the  early  commencement  of  the  American  domination,  after 
the  Governor  and  Supreme  Court,  were  Henry  Johnson,  Edward 
Livingston,  James  Brown,  John  R.  Grymes,  Thomas  Urquhart, 
Boling  Robinson,  and  General  Philemon  Thomas. 

Edward  Livingston  was  a  citizen  at  the  time  of  the  cession,  having 
emigrated  from  New  York  in  1801,  where  he  had  already  acquired 
fame  as  a  lawyer.  He  was  the  brother  of  the  celebrated  Chancellor 
Livingston,  and  had,  as  an  officer  of  the  General  Government,  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  defaulted  in  a  large  amount.  To  avoid  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  427 

penalties  of  the  law  he  came  to  New  Orleans,  then  a  colony  of  a 
foreign  government,  and  there  commenced  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. After  the  cession  he  was  not  disturbed  by  the  Government, 
and  continued  actively  to  pursue  his  profession. 

He  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Daniel  Clark,  who  was  the  first  Ter- 
ritorial-representative in  Congress ;  and  it  has  been  supposed  that, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Clark,  the  Government  declined  pur- 
suing the  claim  against  him.  He  first  emerged  to  public  view  in  a 
contest  with  Mr.  Jefferson  relative  to  the  batture  property  in  the  city 
of  New  Orleans. '  Livingston  had  purchased  a  property  above  Canal 
Street,  and  claimed  all  the  batture  between  his  property  and  the 
river  as  riparian  proprietor.  This  was  contested  by  Mr.  Jefferson 
as  President  of  the  United  States.  He  claimed  this  as  public  land 
belonging  to  the  United  States  under  the  treaty  of  purchase.  The 
question  was  very  ably  argued  by  both  parties ;  but  the  title  to  this 
immensely  valuable  property  remained  unsettled  for  many  years  after 
the  death  of  both  Jefferson  and  Livingston,  and  finally  was  decreed 
by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  to  belong  to  the  city  of 
New  Orleans. 

When,  during  the  invasion  of  New  Orleans  by  the  English  forces 
in  the  war  of  1812  and  '15,  General  Jackson  came  to  its  defence, 
Livingston  volunteered  as  one  of  his  aids,  and  rendered  distinguished 
services  to  Jackson  and  the  country  in  that  memorable  affair,  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans.  A  friendship  grew  up  between  Jackson  and 
Livingston,  which  continued  during  their  lives.  Soon  after  the  war, 
Livingston  was  elected  to  represent  the  New  Orleans  or  First  Con- 
gressional District  in  Congress.  He  continued  for  some  time  to 
represent  this  district;  but  was  finally,  about  1829,  beaten  by 
Edward  D.  White.  At  the  succeeding  session  of  the  Legislature, 
however,  he  was  elected  a  senator  to  Congress  in  the  place  of  Henry 
Johnson.  From  the  Senate  he  was  sent  as  Minister  to  France,  and 
was  afterward  Secretary  of  State  during  the  administration  of  General 
Jackson.  It  was  in  his  case  that  Jackson  exercised  the  extraordinary 
power  of  directing  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States  to  receipt  Mr. 
Livingston  for  the  sum  of  his  defalcation  thirty-four  years  before. 
At  the  time  this  was  done,  Tobias  Watkins  was  in  prison  in  Wash- 
ington for  a  defalcation  of  only  a  few  hundreds  to  the  Government. 
These  two  events  gave  rise  to  the  ludicrous  caricature,  which  caused 
much  amusement  at  the  time,  of  General  Jackson's  walking  with,  his 


428  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

arm  in  Livingston's  by  the  jail,  when  Watkins,  looking  from  the 
window,  points  to  Livingston,  saying  to  the  General :  "  You  should 
turn  me  out,  or  put  him  in." 

Immediately  upon  this  receipt  being  recorded,  Livingston  pre- 
sented an  account  for  mileage  and  per  diem  for  all  the  time  he  had 
served  in  Congress,  and  received  it.  So  long  as  he  was  a  defaulter 
to  the  Government,  he  could  receive  no  pay  for  public  services. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Livingston  had  no  superior.  He  was  master  of 
every  system  prevailing  in  the  civilized  world  ;  he  spoke  fluently 
four  languages,  and  read  double  that  number.  As  a  statesman  he 
ranked  with  the  first  of  his  country,  and  was  skilled  as  a  diplomatist. 
In  every  situation  where  placed  by  fortune  or  accident,  he  displayed 
ample  ability  for  the  discharge  of  its  duties.  It  is  not  known,  but 
is  generally  believed  that,  as  Secretary  of  State,  he  wrote  the  state 
papers  of  General  Jackson.  The  same  has  been  said  of  that  veteran 
Amos  Kendall.  There  was  one  for  which  Livingston  obtained  the 
credit,  which  he  certainly  did  not  write  —  the  celebrated  proclamation 
to  the  people  of  South  Carolina  upon  the  subject  of  nullification. 
This  was  written  by  Mr.  Webster.  Upon  one  occasion,  Mr.  Webster, 
per  invitation,  with  many  members  of  Congress,  dined  with  the 
President.  When  the  company  was  about  retiring,  General  Jackson 
requested  Mr.  Webster  to  remain,  as  he  desired  some  conversation 
with  him.  The  subject  of  South  Carolina  nullification  had  been 
discussed  cursorily  by  the  guests  at  dinner,  and  Jackson  had  been 
impressed  with  some  of  Webster's  remarks ;  and  when  alone  together, 
he  requested  Webster's  opinions  on  the  subject  at  length. 

Mr.  Webster  replied,  that  the  time  was  wanting  for  a  full  discussion 
of  the  question ;  but  if  it  would  be  agreeable  to  the  President,  he  would 
put  them  in  writing  and  send  them  to  him.  He  did  so.  These 
opinions,  expressing  fully  Mr.  Webster's  views,  were  handed  to  Mr. 
Livingston,  who,  approving  them,  made  a  few  verbal  alterations,  and 
submitted  the  document,  which  was  issued  as  the  President's  procla- 
mation. The  doctrines  politically  enunciated  in  this  paper  are 
identical  with  those  entertained  in  the  great  speech  of  Mr.  Webster, 
in  the  famous  contest  with  Robert  T.  Hayne,  on  Foote's  Resolutions, 
some  years  before;  and  are  eminently  Federal.  They  came  like 
midnight  at  noon  upon  the  States-Rights  men  of  the  South,  and  a 
Virginian,  wherever  found,  groaned  as  he  read  them. 

Mr.  Livingston,  though  a  Jeffersonian  Democrat  in  his  early  life, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  429 

and  now  a  Jackson  Democrat,  held  very  strong  Federal  notions  in 
regard  to  the  relations  between  the  States  and  the  United  States 
Government,  and  was  disposed  to  have  these  sanctioned  by  the 
adoption  of  General  Jackson. 

Jackson,  probably,  never  read  this  paper ;  and  if  he  did,  did 
not  exactly  comprehend  its  tenor ;  for  General  Jackson's  political 
opinions  were  never  very  fixed  or  clear.  What  he  willed,  he  exe- 
cuted, and  though  it  cut  across  the  Constitution,  or  the  laws,  his 
friends  and  followers  threw  up  their  caps  and  cheered  him. 

Mr.  Livingston  was  charged  with  the  delicate  duty  of  discussing 
the  claims  of  our  Government,  representing  its  citizens,  for  spolia- 
tions committed  upon  our  commerce  under  the  celebrated  Milan 
and  Berlin  decrees  of  Napoleon,  and,  backed  by  the  determination 
of  Jackson,  happily  succeeded  in  finally  settling  this  vexatious  ques- 
tion. A  sum  was  agreed  upon,  and  paid  into  the  United  States 
Treasury;  but  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  none,  or  very  little  of  it,  has 
ever  reached  the  hands  of  the  sufferers.  Upon  the  proof  of  the 
justice  of  their  claims,  France  was  compelled  to  pay  them  to  the 
Government ;  but  now  the  Government  wants  additional  proof  of 
this  same  fact,  before  the  money  is  paid  over  to  them. 

Mr.  Livingston's  learning  was  varied  and  extensive ;  he  was  a  fine 
classical  scholar,  and  equally  as  accomplished  in  belles-lettres.  In 
the  literature  of  France,  Germany,  and  Spain  he  was  quite  as  well 
versed  as  in  that  of  his  native  tongue.  His  historical  knowledge  was 
more  extensive  and  more  accurate  than  that  of  any  public  man  of 
the  day,  except,  perhaps,  Mr.  Benton.  At  the  Bar,  he  met  those 
eminent  jurists,  Grymes,  Lilly,  Brown,  and  Mazereau,  and  success- 
fully. This  is  great  praise,  for  nowhere,  in  any  city  or  country,  were 
to  be  found  their  superiors  in  talent  and  legal  lore. 

Livingston  never  had  the  full  confidence  of  his  party,  and  perhaps 
with  the  exception  of  General  Jackson,  that  of  any  individual.  In 
moneyed  matters,  he  was  eminently  unreliable ;  but  all  admitted  his 
great  abilities.  In  social  qualities,  he  was  entirely  deficient.  He 
had  no  powers  of  attraction  to  collect  about  him  friends,  or  to 
attach  even  his  political  partisans.  These  were  proud  of  his  talents, 
and  felt  honored  in  his  representation,  and  with  the  rest  of  the  world 
honored  and  admired  the  statesman,  while  they  despised  the  man. 
He  was  illiberal,  without  generosity,  unsocial,  and  soulless,  with  every 
attribute  of  mind  to  be  admired,  without  one  quality  of  the  heart  to 


430  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

be  loved.  In  person  he  was  tall  and  slender,  and  without  grace  in 
his  movements,  or  dignity  in  his  manners.  With  a  most  intellectual 
face,  his  brow  was  extremely  arched,  his  eye  gray,  and  his  prominent 
forehead  narrow  but  high  and  receding;  his  mouth  was  large  and 
well  formed,  and  was  as  uncertain  and  restless  as  his  eye.  No  one 
could  mistake  from  his  face  the  talent  of  the  man ;  yet  there  lurked 
through  its  every  feature  an  unpleasant  something,  which  forced  an 
unfavorable  opinion  of  the  individual.  Mr.  Livingston  lived  very 
many  years  in  Louisiana,  and  rendered  her  great  services  in  codify- 
ing her  laws,  and  making  them  clear  and  easy  of  comprehension. 
He  shed  lustre  upon  her  name,  by  his  eminent  abilities  as  a  jurist  and 
statesman,  and  thus  has  identified  his  name  most  prominently  with 
her  history.  But  without  those  shining  qualities  which  clasp  to  the 
heart  in  devoted  affection  the  great  man,  and  which  constitute  one 
great  essential  of  true  greatness.  And  now  that  he  is  in  the  grave, 
he  is  remembered  with  cold  respect  alone. 

Stephen  Mazereau  was  a  Frenchman,  a  Parisian,  and  a  lawyer  there 
of  the  first  eminence.  When  about  to  emigrate  to  Madrid,  in  Spain, 
the  Bar  of  his  native  city  presented  him  with  a  splendid  set  of  silver, 
in  respect  for  his  position  as  a  lawyer  and  his  virtues  as  a  man.  He 
remained  ten  years  in  Spain's  capital,  and  was  at  the  head  of  the  Bar 
of  that  city ;  and  when  leaving  it  to  come  to  New  Orleans,  received 
a  similar  testimonial  from  his  brethren  there  to  his  worth  and  talents. 
Immediately  upon  coming  to  New  Orleans,  he  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  the  law,  and  at  once  took  rank  with  Livingston,  Lilly,  Brown, 
and  Grymes,  who,  though  then  a  very  young  man,  had  already 
gained  eminence  in  his  profession. 

Mr.  Mazereau,  except  giving  his  State,  in  the  Legislature,  the 
benefit  of  his  abilities,  avoided  politics,  confining  himself  exclusively 
to  his  profession.  In  the  argument  of  great  questions  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  between  these  eminent  jurists,  was  to  be 
seen  the  combat  of  giants.  Mazereau  was  a  short,  stout  man,  with 
an  enormous  head,  which  made  his  appearance  singularly  unique.  In 
his  arguments  he  was  considerate,  cautious,  and  eminently  learned. 
Sometimes  he  would  address  the  people  on  great  political  questions, 
and  then  all  the  fervor  of  the  Frenchman  would  burst  forth  in  elo- 
quent and  impressive  appeals.  I  remember  hearing  him,  when  he 
was  old,  address  an  immense  gathering  of  the  people.  He  looked 
over  the  crowd,  when  he  rose,  and  said :  "  I  see  three  nations  before 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


431 


me.  Americans,  I  shall  speak  to  you  first.  Frenchmen,  to  you  next 
—  and  to  you,  my  Spanish  friends,  last.  I  shall  probably  occupy 
two  hours  with  each  of  you.  It  will  be  the  same  speech ;  so  you 
who  do  not  understand  the  English  language,  need  not  remain.  You 
who  understand  French,  may  return  when  I  shall  dismiss  these 
Americans  —  and  you,  my  Spanish  friends,  when  I  am  through  with 
these  Frenchmen."  This  he  fulfilled  to  the  letter  in  a  six-hours' 
speech,  and  I  never  knew  a  political  speech  effect  so  much. 

For  many  years  he  was  attorney  -  general  of  the  State,  and  legal 
adviser  and  counsellor  of  the  Governor.  Although  his  practice  was 
eminently  profitable,  he  was  so  careless  and  extravagant  in  money 
matters,  that  he  was  always  poor  and  necessitous,  especially  in  his 
old  age. 

It  really  seems  one  of  the  attributes  of  genius  to  be  indifferent  to 
this  world's  goods,  and  when  time  and  labor  have  done  their  work, 
and  the  imbecility  of  years  obscures  its  brilliancy,  to  droop  neglected, 
and,  if  not  in  want,  in  despised  poverty.  Such  was  the  fate  for  a 
short  time  of  this  great  man — but  only  for  a  short  time.  His  powerful 
intellect  retained  its  vigor,  and  his  brilliant  wit  all  its  edges,  to 
within  a  little  while  of  his  death.  Sadly  I  turn  back,  in  memory,  to 
the  day  he  communicated  to  me  that  his  necessities  .would  compel 
him  to  dispose  of  the  beautiful  and  valuable  testimonials  of  the  Bar 
of  two  proud  nations  to  his  character  and  abilities.  His  great  intel- 
lect was  beginning  to  fade  out ;  but,  as  the  sun,  declining  to  rest 
canopied  with  increasing  clouds,  will  sometimes  pierce  through  the 
interstices  of  the  dark  masses,  and  dart  for  a  moment  the  intensity 
of  his  light  upon  the  earth,  the  mind  of  Mazereau  would  flash  in  all 
its  youthful  grandeur  and  power  from  the  dimness  that  was  darkening 
it  out. 

He  was  a  noble  specimen  of  a  French  gentleman :  a  French 
scholar,  and  a  Frenchman.  His  memory  is  embalmed  in  the  hearts 
of  his  friends  of  every  nation  who  knew  him  in  New  Orleans. 
Strictly  moral  in  his  habits,  full  of  truth  and  honor,  and  overflowing 
with  generosity,  social  in  his  habits,  and  kindly  in  his  feelings,  he 
made  friends  of  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him;  and  yet  he  had 
his  enemies.  His  intolerance  of  everything  that  was  little  or  mean, 
and  his  scorn  and  hatred  of  men  of  such  character,  was  never  con- 
cealed, either  in  his  conversation  or  conduct.  Such  men  were  his 
enemies,  and  some,  too,  were  his  foes  from  the  intolerance  of  polit- 


432  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

ical  antagonism ;  but  the  grave  obliterated  these  animosities,  and 
the  generous  political  antagonist  cherishes  now  only  respect  for  this 
truly  great  man.  With  deep  gratitude  my  heart  turns  to  his  memory  : 
his  generous  kindness,  his  warm  friendship  was  mine  for  long  years, 
and  to  me  his  memory  is  an  incense. 

John  R.  Grymes  was  a  Virginian  and  close  connection  of  John 
Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  whose  name  he  bore;  but  of  this  he  never 
boasted,  nor  did  any  one  hear  him  claim  alliance  of  blood  with 
Pocahontas.  Mr.  Madison  appointed  him  district  attorney  of  the 
United  States  for  the  district  of  Louisiana,  when  a  very  young  man. 
This  appointment  introduced  him  to  the  Bar  and  the  practice  immedi- 
ately. He  was  one  of  those  extraordinary  creations,  who  leap  into 
manhood  without  the  probation  of  youth :  at  twenty-two  he  was 
eminent  and  in  full  practice,  ranking  with  the  leading  members  of 
the  Bar.  Truly,  Grymes  was  born  great,  for  no  one  can  remember 
when  he  was  not  great !  Never,  in  company,  in  social  life,  with  a 
private  friend,  at  the  Bar,  or  anywhere,  was  he  even  apparently 
simple  or  like  other  men  ;  in  private,  with  his  best  friend,  he  spoke, 
he  looked,  and  he  was  the  great  man.  He  was  great  in  his  frivolities, 
great  in  his  burlesques,  great  in  his  humor,  great  in  common  con- 
versation ;  the  great  lawyer,  the  great  orator,  the  great  blackguard, 
and  the  great  companion,  the  great  beau,  and  the  great  spendthrift : 
in  nothing  was  he  little. 

His  language  was  ornate,  his  style  was  terse  and  beautiful ;  in 
conversation  he  was  voluble  and  transcendently  entertaining  ;  knew 
everybody  and  everything ;  never  seemed  to  read,  and  yet  was 
always  prepared  in  his  cases,  and  seemed  to  be  a  lawyer  by  intuition. 
He  was  rarely  in  his  office,  but  always  on  the  street,  and  always  dressed 
in  the  extreme  of  the  fashion  ;  lived  nowhere,  boarded  nowhere, 
slept  nowhere,  and  ate  everywhere.  He  dined  at  a  restaurant,  but 
scarcely  ever  at  the  same  twice  in  succession  ;  would  search  for  hours 
to  find  a  genial  friend  to  dine  with  him,  and  then,  if  he  was  in  the 
mood,  there  was  a  feast  of  the  body  and  flow  of  the  soul ;  went  to 
every -ball,  danced  with  everybody,  visited  the  ladies;  was  learned 
r  frivolous,  as  suited  the  ladies'  capacities  or  attainments ;  appeared 
fond  of  their  society,  and  always  spoke  of  them  with  ridicule  or  con- 
tempt ;  married,  and  separated  from  his  wife,  no  one  knew  for  what 
cause,  yet  still  claimed  and  supported  her.  She  was  the  widow  of 
Governor  Claiborne,  and  a  magnificent  woman;  she  was  a  Spaniard 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


433 


by  blood,  aristocratic  in  her  feelings,  eccentric,  and,  intellectually,  a 
fit  companion  for  Grymes.  She  was  to  Claiborne  an  admirable  wife, 
but  there  was  little  congeniality  between  her  and  Grymes.  Grymes 
knew  that  it  was  not  possible  for  any  woman  to  tolerate  him  as  a 
husband,  and  was  contented  to  live  apart  from  his  wife.  They  were 
never  divorced,  but  lived— she  in  New  York,  or  at  her  villa  on 
Staten  Island ;  Grymes  in  New  Orleans.  He  never  complained  of 
her;  always  spoke  kindly,  and  sometimes  affectionately  of  her; 
denied  the  separation,  and  annually  visited  her.  Their  relations 
were  perfectly  amicable,  but  they  could  not  live  together.  Grymes 
could  have  lived  with  no  woman.  In  all  things  he  was  sui  generis ; 
with  no  one  like  him  in  any  one  thing,  for  he  was  never  the  same 
being  two  consecutive  days.  He  had  no  fixed  opinions  that  any  one 
knew  of;  he  was  a  blatant  Democrat,  and  yet  never  agreed  with  them 
in  anything ;  a  great  advocate  of  universal  equality,  and  the  veriest 
aristocrat  on  earth  ;  he  would  urge  to-day  as  a  great  moral  or  political 
truth  certain  principles,  and  ridicule  them  with  contemptuous  scorn 
to-morrow.  He  was  the  most  devout  of  Christians  to-day,  the  most 
abandoned  infidel  to-morrow;  and  always,  and  with  everybody, 
striving  to  appear  as  base  and  as  abandoned  as  profligate  man  could 
be :  to  believe  all  he  said  of  himself,  was  to  believe  him  the  worst 
man  on  earth.  He  despised  public  opinion  and  mankind  generally; 
still  he  was  kind  in  his  nature,  and  generous  to  profligacy;  was 
deeply  sympathetic,  and  never  turned  from  the  necessitous  without 
dropping  a  tear  or  giving  a  dollar — the  one  he  bestowed  generously, 
the  other  he  rarely  had  to  give;  but,  if  an  acquaintance  was  at  hand, 
he  would  borrow  and  give,  and  the  charity  of  heart  was  as  sincere  as 
though  the  money  had  been  his  own. 

On  one  occasion  I  was  with  him  when  charity  was  solicited  of 
him  by  a  wretched  old  woman.  "Give  me  five  dollars,"  he  said  to 
me ;  the  money  was  handed  the  woman,  and  she  was  sent  away,  to 
be  drunk  and  in  a  police  -  station  within  the  hour.  I  remarked : 
"That  old  wretch  has  brought  all  this  upon  her  by  an  abandoned 
profligacy."  "Then  I  owe  her  sympathy  as  well  as  charity,"  was 
his  reply;  "I  do  not  know  the  cause  of  her  suffering,  but  I  know 
she  is  suffering :  it  may  be  for  food,  it  may  be  for  drink ;  if  either 
obliterates  her  misery,  your  money  is  well  spent." 

He  had  no  idea  of  the  value  of  money ;  was  constantly  in  the 
receipt  of  large  fees,  with  a  most  lucrative  practice,  but  was  always 

77  2C 


434  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

embarrassed,  owed  everybody,  loaned  to  everybody,  gave  to  every- 
body, and  paid  nobody. 

During  the  existence  of  the  law  which  imprisoned  for  debt,  he  was 
constantly  in  the  sheriff's   hands,  but  always  settling,  by  the  most 
ingenious  devices,  the  claim  at  the  jail-door.     It  is  told  of  him,  that 
the  sheriff  on  one  occasion  notified  him  that  there  was  a  ca.  sa.  \ 
his  hands,  and  that  he  did  not  want  to  arrest  him.     The  sum  was 
large,  some  two  thousand  dollars  -  Grymes  had  not  a  dollar, 
paused  a  moment,  then  said,  "Come  to  me  to-morrow, 
case  of  Milliadon's  for  trial  to-morrow;  he  is  greatly  interested 
When  it  is  called,  I  will  give  you  the  wink,  then  arrest  me. 
obedience  to  directions,  the  sheriff  came,  the  case  was  called,  and 
Grvmes  arrested.    Milliadon  was  in  court,  his  hopes  were  in  Grymes, 
and  when  he  was  informed  that  Grymes  was  in  custody  of  the  sheriff, 
he  groaned  aloud. 

"  Oh  !  Mr.  Grymes,  vat  am  I  to  do?" 
"  Why,  you  must  employ  other  counsel,"  said  Grymes. 
"  Mon  dieu  \  but  I  have  pay  you  for  attend  this^case,  and  I  want 
you.     You  know  about  it,  and  it  must  be  try  now." 

"Yes,"  continued  the  imperturbable  Grymes,  "  you  have  paid  me, 
I  know,  and  I  know  it  would  be  dangerous  to  trust  it  to  other  counsel, 
but  it  is  your  only  hope.  I  have  no  money,  and  here  is  a  ca.  sa., 
and  I  am  on  my  way  to  jail."  M 

"  Oh  !  mon  difu  .'  mon  dieu  !  vat  is  de  amount  of  de  ca.  sa.  f 
"  Two  thousand  dollars,"  said  the  sheriff. 
"Two  thousand  dollars!  "  repeated  Milliadon. 
"  Goodall  vs.  Milliadon,"  said  the  Judge,  "  Preston,  for  plaint 
—  Grymes,  for  defendant.     What  do  you  do  with  this  case,  gen- 
tlemen?" 

"We  are  ready,"  said  Preston. 
"  And  you,  Mr.  Grymes?  "  asked  the  court. 
"  Vill  you  take  my  check  for  de  ca.  sa.,  Mr.  Sheriff?  " 
"  Certainly,  sir,"  replied  the  officer. 

"  Say  we  is  ready  too,  Mr.  Grymes  —  all  my  witness  be  here." 

"  I  believe  we    are    ready,   your    honor,"   answered    Grymes. 

Milliadon  was  writing  his  check.      "Enter  satisfaction  on  the  ca. 

sa  ,"  said  Grymes.     The  sheriff  did  so,  as  Milliadon  handed  him 

the  check.    Grymes  now  turned  his  attention  to  the  case  as  coolly  as 


FIFTY     YEARS.  435 

though  nothing  had  occurred.  That  was  the  last  Milliadon  ever 
heard  of  his  two  thousand  dollars. 

Laurent  Milliadon  and  the  millionaire  John  McDonough  were 
litigious  in  their  characters ;  and  their  names  occur  in  the  report  of 
the  Supreme  Court  decisions  more  frequently  than  those  of  any 
ten  other  men  in  the  State.  Grymes  was  the  attorney  for  both  of 
them  for  many  years.  They  were  both  men  of  great  shrewdness, 
and  both  speculative  in  their  characters,  and  both  had  accumulated 
large  fortunes.  Without  any  assignable  cause,  McDonough  ceased 
to  employ  Grymes,  and  intrusted  his  business  to  other  counsel,  who 
did  not  value  their  services  so  extravagantly.  Mentioning  the  fact 
upon  one  occasion  to  Grymes,  "Ah!  yes,"  said  he,  "I  can  explain 
to  your  satisfaction  the  cause.  In  a  certain  case  of  his,  in  which  he 
had  law  and  justice  with  him,  he  suddenly  became  very  uneasy.  '  I 
shall  certainly  lose  it,  Grymes,'  he  said  excitedly  to  me.  I  told  him 
it  was  impossible;  he  had  never  had  so  sure  a  thing  since  I  had  been 
his  attorney.  In  his  dogmatical  manner,  which  you  know,  he  still 
persisted  in  saying,  he  was  no  great  lawyer  as  I  was,  but  some  things 
he  knew  better  than  any  lawyer,  and  '  I  shall  lose  that  case."  At  the 
same  time  he  significantly  touched  his  pocket  and  then  his  palm, 
signifying  that  money  had  been  paid  by  his  adversary  to  the  court, 
or  some  member  of  it.  '  Ah  !  '  said  I,  '  are  you  sure  —  very  sure?' 
'  Very  sure  —  I  know  it ;  and  you  will  see  I  shall  lose  this  suit.'  He 
was  not  wont  to  speak  so  positively,  without  the  best  evidence  of  any 
fact.  'Well,  Mac,'  said  I,  jestingly,  'if  that  is  the  game,  who  can 
play  it  better  than  you  can  —  you  have  a  larger  stake  than  any  of 
them,  and  of  course  better  ability? '  Well,  sir,  he  did  lose  one  of 
the  plainest  cases  I  ever  presented  to  a  court.  From  that  day  for- 
ward I  have  not  received  a  fee  from  him :  and  now  the  secret  is 
before  the  world.  He  has  been  detected  in  bribing  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court." 

As  an  orator,  Grymes  was  among  the  first  of  the  country.  All  he 
wanted,  to  have  been  exceedingly  eloquent,  was  earnestness  and 
feeling  j  of  this  he  was  devoid.  His  manner  was  always  collected 
and  cool ;  his  style  chaste  and  beautiful,  with  but  little  ornament;  he 
spoke  only  from  the  brain  —  there  was  nothing  from  the  heart.  In 
argument  he  was  exceedingly  cogent  and  lucid,  and  when  the 
subject  seemed  most  complicated,  the  acuteness  of  his  analytical 


436  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

mind  seemed  to  unravel  and  lay  bare  the  true  features  of  the  case, 
with  an  ease  and  power  that  required  scarce  an  effort.  His  powers 
of  ratiocination  were  very  great,  and  this  was  the  forte  of  his  mind ; 
his  conclusions  were  clearly  deduced  from  arguments  always  logical. 

There  were  times  when  he  would  be  serious — and  then  there  was  a 
grandeur  about  him  very  striking.  At  such  times,  bursts  of  passion- 
ate feeling  would  break  from  him  that  seemed  like  volcanic  erup- 
tions. They  appeared  to  come  from  a  deep  and  intense  tenderness 
of  heart.  These  were  momentary — the  lightning's  flash  illuminating 
the  gloom  and  darkness  of  its  parent  cloud.  I  have  thought  this 
was  the  man's  nature,  born  with  a  heart  capable  of  intense  feeling, 
which  had  been  educated  to  believe  this  weakness.  Coming  very 
young  away  from  his  home  and  early  associations,  to  live  and  mingle 
with  strangers  of  a  different  race — leaving  the  rural  scenes  and  home 
associations  which  were  forming  and  developing  nature's  glorious 
gifts,  to  come  to  a  profligate  and  heartless  city  —  the  whole  current 
of  his  susceptible  nature  was  changed,  and  the  feeling  and  good  per- 
verted and  overshadowed,  yet  not  entirely  rooted  out.  Hence  the 
contradictions  in  his  character.  Sometimes  nature  was  too  strong 
for  art,  and  would  break  out  in  beauty,  as  the  flower,  rich  in  fra- 
grance and  delicate  loveliness,  when  touched  by  the  genial  sun,  will 
burst  from  the  black  and  uninviting  bud. 

Upon  one  occasion,  when  there  was  a  United  States  senator  to  be 
elected,  and  when  the  Democratic  party  held  a  majority  in  the 
Legislature,  rendering  it  impossible  for  the  Whigs  to  elect  any 
member  of  their  own  party,  yet,  with  the  assistance  of  three  from  the 
Democratic  party,  could  choose  from  this  party  any  man  they  would 
select  and  unite  upon  —  they  determined  to  propose  Grymes,  and 
had  secured  the  requisite  assistance  from  the  Democracy.  I  was  a 
member,  and  a  Whig,  and  was  delegated  to  communicate  the  facts 
to  Grymes.  I  knew  the  Senate  had  been  his  ambition  for  years.  I 
knew  he  felt  his  powers  would  give  him  a  position  with  the  greatest 
of  that  body,  and  an  immediate  national  reputation,  and  had  no 
doubt  of  his  cheerful  acquiescence.  To  my  astonishment  he  assumed 
a  grave  and  most  serious  manner.  "  I  am  grateful,  most  grateful  to 
you,"  he  said,  "for  I  know  this  has  been  brought  about  by  you,  and 
that  you  sincerely  desire  to  gratify  me  ;  but  I  cannot  consent  to  be  a 
candidate.  Most  frankly  will  I  tell  you  my  reasons.  I  admit  it  has 
been  my  desire  for  years.  It  has  been,  I  may  say  to  you,  my  life- 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


437 


long  ambition  ;  but  I  have  always  coupled  the  possession  of  the 
position  with  the  power  of  sustaining  it  reputably.  I  was  never 
ambitious  of  the  silly  vanity  of  simply  being  a  senator  and  known 
as  such  i  but  of  giving  to  it  the  character  and  dignity  due  it.  Louis- 
iana is  a  proud  State,  her  people  are  a  noble  and  a  proud  people, 
they  have  a  right  to  be  so  — look  at  her  !  With  a  soil  and  a  climate 
congenial  to  the  production  of  the  richest  staples  now  ministering 
to  the  luxuries  and  necessities  of  man  —  with  a  river  emptying  into 
her  commercial  mart  the  productions  of  a  world,  her  planters  are 
princes,  in  feeling,  fortune,  and  position.  At  their  mansions  is  dis- 
pensed a  noble  hospitality,  rich  in  the  feasts  of  body  and  mind, 
generous  and  open  as  was  Virginia's  in  her  proudest  days.  At 
Washington  I  would  represent  these,  and  the  merchant-princes  of 
her  metropolis.  You  have  said,  as  eloquently  as  truly,  '  There  is 
but  one  Mississippi  River  ;  but  one  Louisiana  ;  but  one  New  Orleans 
on  the  face  of  the  earth. '  As  she  is,  and  as  her  people  are,  I  would 
represent  her  as  her  senator. 

"I  am  a  beggar,  and  cannot  consent,  in  this  character,  to  be 
made  more  conspicuous,  by  being  made  a  beggarly  senator.  I  cannot 
take  a  house  in  Washington,  furnish  it,  and  live  in  it  as  a  gentleman. 
I  could  not,  in  any  other  manner,  entertain  my  people  visiting  Wash- 
ington, consistently  with  my  ideas  of  what  a  senator  should  do.  I 
cannot  go  to  Washington,  and,  as  one  of  them,  stand  among  the 
great  men  of  the  Senate,  in  that  magnificent  hall,  and  feel  my  soul 
swell  to  theirs  and  its  proportions,  and  then  dodge  you,  or  any  other 
gentleman  from  Louisiana,  and  sneak  home  to  a  garret.  My  means 
would  allow  me  no  better  apartment.  I  could  not  live  in  the  mean 
seclusion  of  a  miserable  penury,  nor  otherwise  than  in  a  style  com- 
porting, in  my  estimation,  with  the  dignity  and  the  duty  of  a  senator 
from  Louisiana,  as  some  have  done,  who  were  able  to  live  and  enter- 
tain al  gentlemen,  for  the  purpose  of  the  degraded  saving  of  half  my 
per  diem  to  swell  my  coffers  at  home. 

"Now,  my  friend,  I  feel  how  miserably  foolish  I  have  been  all 
my  life.  I  have  thrown  away  fortune  because  I  despised  it.  It  was 
too  grovelling  a  pursuit,  too  mean  a  vocation,  to  make  and  to  hoard 
money.  In  my  soul  I  despised  it,  an'd  now  you  see  it  is  revenged ; 
for  without  it,  I  have  learned,  there  is  no  gratification  for  ambition 
—  no  independence  of  a  sneering,  envious  world.  A  bankrupt  is  a 
felon,  though  his  mind,  his  virtues,  and  his  attainments  may  be  those 
37* 


THE     MEMORIES     OF 


,od      He  is  a  useless  waif  upon  the  world  ;  for  all  he  has,  or  all 
h    nfay  be,"   to  Itself  and  the  world,  unavailable  without  rnonev^ 


bark-mill  must  go  to  his  daily  circle.     Good  morn,, 

Some  years  after  the  event  above  menuoned,  Grymes,  as     e  atto! 

nevo"  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  succeeded,  before  the  Supreme  Court 
'  ates,  in  making  good  the  title  to  the  batture  prop. 


while  the  opposite  bank  has  been  weanng  away 


= 

on  annually  without  any  decrease  in  its  ratio. 

By  agreement  of  all  parties,  this  batture  was  surveyed  m  to  squares 
and  U,  and  sold  at  public  auction,  and  the  money  deposited  in  the 
Bank  of  Louisiana,  to  the  credit  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  he  United 
States,  to  abide  the  decision  of  that  tribunal  as  to  the  rightful  owner. 
shin  The  decision  gave  it  to  the  city.  Grymes,  as  attorney  for  the 
ci  yP'  by  order  of  the  court,  received  a  check  for  the  money  The 
p'aid  the  check,  and  Grymes  appropriated 


, 

sand  dollars  of  it,  a,  a  fee  for  his  services,  and  then 
ance  to  the  credit  of  the  mayor  and  council  of  the  city.     This 
a  large  fee,  but  was  not  really  what  he  was  ent.tled  to,  under  the  cus- 
tom of  chancery  for  collecting  money.    He  had  agreed  to  pay  Dan  el 
Waster  for  assistance  rendered;  but  Mr.  Webster,  some  years  after, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  439 

informed  me  that  he  had  never  received  a  cent,  and  I  am  sure  he 
never  did,  after  that. 

Grymes  was  well  aware,  if  the  city  fathers  got  their  hands  upon  the 
money,  it  would  be  years  before  he  got  this  amount,  if  ever.  With 
a  portion  of  this  money  he  liquidated  all  claims  not  antiquated  and 
forgotten  by  him,  and  the  balance  was  intrusted  to  the  hands  of  a 
friend  to  invest  for  his  benefit.  This,  together  with  his  practice, 
which  was  now  declining,  furnished  a  handsome  support  for  him. 
Age  appeared  to  effect  little  change  in  his  personnel.  At  sixty-seven, 
he  was  as  erect  in  person  and  as  elastic  in  step  as  at  thirty.  There 
was  none  of  that  embonpoint  usually  the  consequence  of  years  and 
luxurious  living.  He  was  neither  slender  nor  fat ;  but  what  is  most 
agreeable  to  the  eye  —  between  the  two,  with  a  most  perfectly  formed 
person.  His  features  were  manly,  and  strikingly  beautiful ;  his  blue 
eyes  beaming  with  the  hauteur  of  high  breeding  and  ripe  intelligence. 
These  features  were  too  often  disfigured  with  the  sneer  of  scorn,  or 
the  curled  lip  of  expressive  contempt.  His  early  hopes,  his  man- 
hood's ambition  had  been  disappointed ;  and,  soured  and  sore,  he 
sneered  at  the  world,  and  despised  it.  He  had  no  confidence  in  man 
or  woman,  and  had  truly  reached  Hamlet's  condition,  when  "  Man 
delighted  him  not,  nor  woman  either."  He  felt  the  world  was  his 
debtor,  and  was  niggardly  in  its  payments.  He  grew  more  and  more 
morose  as  the  things  of  time  receded.  Others,  full  of  youth,  talent, 
and  vigor,  were  usurping  the  positions  and  enjoying  the  honors  of 
life,  which  were  slipping  away  from  him  unenjoyed.  He  turned  upon 
these  the  bitterness  engendered  by  disappointment.  Cynicism  lent 
edge  to  his  wit,  and  bitterness  to  his  sarcasm.  He  was  at  war  with 
himself,  and  consequently  with  all  the  world.  His  mind  felt  none 
of  the  imbecility  of  age,  and  to  the  last  retained  its  perspicuity  and 
power.  As  he  came  into  life  a  man,  and  never  knew  a  boyhood,  so 
he  went  from  it  a  man,  without  the  date  of  years.  At  sixty-eight  years 
of  age,  he  went  quietly  from  life  without  suffering,  and,  to  himself, 
without  regret.  He  was  a  man  —  take  him  all  in  all — whose  like  we 
shall  not  look  on  soon  again. 

The  virtues  and  the  vices,  the  loves  and  the  hates  of  life  were 
strangely  blended  in  the  character  of  John  Randolph  Grymes ;  but 
if  we  judge  from  the  fact  that  he  had  and  left  many  warm  and  devoted 
friends,  and  few.  enemies,  we  must  suppose  the  good  in  his  nature 
greatly  preponderated.  But  notwithstanding  the  great  space  he  had 


440  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

filled  Jn  the  eyes  of  the  people  of  the  city,  his  death  startled  only  for 
a  moment,  and  straightway  he  was  forgotten  ;  as  the  falling  pebble 
dimples  for  a  moment  the  lake's  quiet  surface  —  then  all  is  smooth 
again. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

DIVISION  OF  NEW  ORLEANS   INTO   MUNICIPALITIES. 

AMERICAN  HOTEL— INTRODUCTION  OF  STEAMBOATS — FAUBOURG  ST.  MARY — 
CANAL  STREET  —  ST.  CHARLES  HOTEL  —  SAMUEL  J.  PETERS  —  JAMES  H. 
CALDW  ELL— FATHERS  OF  THE  MUNICIPALITY  —  BERNARD  MARIGNY  —  AN 
Ass  —  A.  B.  ROMAN. 

"T7ORTY  years  ago  there  was  not  a  public  hotel  in  the  city  of  New 
JL  Orleans  which  received  and  entertained  ladies.  There  was  but 
one  respectable  American  hotel  in  the  city.  This  was  kept  by  John 
Richardson,  who  still  lives,  and  was  on  Conti  Street,  between  Chartres 
and  the  levee.  About  that  time  Madame  Heries  opened  the  Planter's 
Hotel  on  Canal  Street,  which  some  years  after  fell  and  crushed  to  death 
some  thirty  persons.  There  were  many  boarding-houses,  where 
ladies  were  entertained,  and  to  these  were  all  ladies  visiting  the  city 
constrained  to  resort.  Some  of  these  were  well  kept  and  comfortable, 
but  afforded  none  or  very  few  of  the  advantages  of  public  hotels. 
They  were  generally  kept  by  decayed  females  who  -were  constrained 
to  this  vocation  by  pecuniary  misfortunes.  The  liberal  accommoda- 
tion afforded  in  hotels,  especially  built  and  furnished  for  the  pur- 
pose, was  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  them. 

At  this  period  all  the  means  of  travel  between  Mobile  and  New 
Orleans,  across  the  Lake,  consisted  of  one  or  two  schooners,  as  reg- 
ular weekly  packets,  plying  between  the  two  cities.  It  was  about  this 
time  that  the  tide  of  emigration  which  had  peopled  the  West, 
and  the  rapid  increase  of  production,  was  stimulating  the  commerce 
of  New  Orleans.  It  was  obeying  the  impulse,  and  increasing  in 
equal  ratio  its  population.  This  commerce  was  chiefly  conducted 
by  Americans,  and  most  of  these  were  of  recent  establishment  in  the 
city.  That  portion  of  the  city  above  Canal  Street,  and  then  known 


FIFTY    YEARS.  44! 

as  the  Faubourg  St.  Mary,  was  little  better  than  a  marsh  in  its  greater 
portion.  Along  the  river  and  Canal  Street,  there  was  something 
>f  a  city  appearance,  in  the  improvements  and  business,  where  there 
were  buildings.  In  every  other  part  there  were  shanties,  and  these 
were  filled  with  a  most  miserable  population. 

About  this  time,  too,  steamboats  were  accumulating  upon  the  West- 
ern waters  —  a  new  necessity  induced  by  the  increase  of  travel  and  com- 
merce—affording facilities  to  the  growing  population  and  increasing 
production  of  the  vast  regions  developing  under  the  energy  of  enterprise 
upon  the  Mississippi  and  her  numerous  great  tributaries.  It  seemed 
that  at  this  juncture  the  whole  world  was  moved  by  a  new  impulse. 
The  difficulties  of  navigating  the  Mississippi  River  had  been  over- 
come, and  the  consequences  of  this  new  triumph  of  science  and  man's 
ingenuity  were  beginning  to  assume  a  more  vigorous  growth. 

The  Ohio  and  its  tributaries  were  peopling  with  a  hardy  and  indus- 
trious race;  the  Missouri,  Arkansas,  and  Red  rivers,  too,  were  filling 
with  a  population  which  was  sweeping  away  the  great  wild  forests,  and 
fields  of  teeming  production  were  smiling  in  their  stead.  New  Or- 
leans was  the  market-point  for  all  that  was,  and  all  that  was  to  be,  the 
growth  of  these  almost  illimitable  regions.  It  was,  as  it  ever  is,  the 
exigencies  of  man  answered  by  the  inspirations  of  God.  The  neces- 
sities of  this  extending  population  along  the  great  rivers  demanded 
means  of  transportation.  These  means  were  to  be  devised,  by  whom  ? 
The  genius  of  Fulton  was  inspired,  and  the  steamboat  sprang  into 
existence.  The  necessity  existed  no  longer,  and  the  flood  of  popu- 
lation poured  in  and  subdued  the  earth  to  man's  will,  to  man's  wants. 
Over  the  hills  and  valleys,  far  away  it  went,  crowding  back  the  savage, 
demanding  and  taking  for  civilized  uses  his  domain  of  wilderness, 
and  creating  new  necessities — and  again  the  inspired  genius  of  man 
gave  to  the  world  the  railroad  and  locomotive. 

The  great  increase  in  the  production  of  cotton  in  the  West,  and 
which  went  for  a  market  to  New  Orleans,  necessitated  greater  ac- 
commodations for  the  trade  in  that  city — presses  for  compressing, 
and  houses  for  merchants,  where  the  business  could  be  conducted 
with  greater  facility  and'  greater  convenience.  American  merchants 
crowded  to  the  city,  and  located  their  places  of  business  above  Canal 
Street,  beyond  which  there  was  not  a  street  paved.  There  was  not  a 
wharf  upon  which  to  discharge  freights,  consequently  the  cotton  bales 
had  to  be  rolled  from  the  steamers  to  the  levee,  which  in  the  almost 


442  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

continued  rains  of  winter  were  muddy,  and  almost  impassable  at  times 
for  loaded  vehicles.  Below  Canal  Street  the  levee  was  made  firm  by 
being  well  shelled,  and  the  depth  of  water  enabled  boats  and  ship- 
ping to  come  close  alongside  the  bank,  which  the  accumulating  bat- 
ture  prevented  above. 

The  French,  or  Creole  population  greatly  preponderated,  and  this 
population  was  all  below  Canal  Street.  They  elected  the  mayor, 
and  two-thirds  of  the  council,  and  these  came  into  office  with  all  the 
prejudices  of  that  people  against  the  Americans,  whom  a  majority 
of  them  did  not  hesitate  to  denominate  intruders.  The  consequence 
was  the  expenditure  of  all  the  revenue  of  the  city  upon  improvements 
below  Canal  Street.  Every  effort  was  made  to  force  trade  to  the 
lower  portion  of  the  city.  This  was  unavailing.  The  Faubourg  St. 
Mary  continued  to  improve,  and  most  rapidly.  Business  and  cotton- 
presses  sprang  up  like  magic.  Americans  were  purchasing  sugar 
plantations  and  moving  into  the  French  parishes,  drawing  closer  the 
relations  of  fellow-citizens,  and  becoming  more  and  more  acquainted 
with  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  each  other,  and  establishing 
good  neighborhoods  and  good  feelings,  and  by  degrees  wearing  out 
these  national  prejudices,  by  encouraging  social  intercourse  and 
fraternity.  They  were  introducing  new  methods  of  cultivation,  and 
new  modes  of  making  sugar;  pushing  improvements,  stimulating 
enterprise,  and  encouraging  a  community  of  feeling,  as  they  held  a 
common  interest  in  the  country.  In  the  country  parishes  these  pre- 
judices of  race  had  never  been  so  strong  as  in  the  city,  and  were  fast 
giving  way;  intermarriages  and  family  relations  were  beginning  to 
identify  the  people,  and  this  to  some  extent  was  true  in  the  city.  But 
here  there  was  a  conflict  of  interest,  and  this  seemed  on  the  increase. 
The  improvements  made  in  the  Faubourg  were  suggested  by  the 
necessities  of  commerce,  and  this  naturally  went  to  these.  There 
was  a  superior  enterprise  in  the  American  merchant,  there  was  greater 
liberality  in  his  dealings:  he  granted  hazardous  accommodations  to 
trade,  and  made  greater  efforts  to  secure  it.  This  had  the  effect  of 
securing  the  rapidly  increasing  commerce  of  the  city  to  the  American 
merchants,  and  of  course  was  promoting  the -settlement  and  improve- 
ment of  the  Faubourg  St.  Mary.  It  excited,  too,  more  and  more  the 
antipathies  of  the  ancient  population.  These,  controlling  the  city 
government  constantly  in  a  most  envious  spirit,  refused  to  extend  the 
public  improvements  of  the  Faubourg. 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


443 


There  was  not,  forty  years  ago,  or  in  1828,  a  paving-stone  above 
Canal  Street,  nor  could  any  necessity  induce  the  government  of  the 
city  to  pave  a  single  street.  Where  now  stands  the  great  St.  Charles 
Hotel,  there  was  an  unsightly  and  disgusting  pond  of  fetid  water, 
and  the  locations  now  occupied  by  the  City  Hotel  and  the  St.  James 
were  cattle-pens.  There  was  not  a  wharf  in  the  entire  length  of  the 
city,  and  the  consequence  was  an  enormous  tax  levied  upon  produce, 
in  the  shape  of  drayage  and  repairs  of  injuries  to  packages,  from  the 
want  of  these  prime  necessities. 

The  navigation  of  the  Bayou  St.  John  commanded  for  the  lower 
portion  of  the  city  the  commerce  crossing  the  lake,  and  to  monopo- 
lize the  profits  of  travel,  a  railroad  was  proposed  from  the  lake  to  the 
river,  and  speedily  completed.  The  people  of  the  Faubourg,  to 
counteract  as  much  as  possible  these  advantages,  constructed  a  canal 
from  the  city  to  the  lake,  which  was  to  enter  the  city,  or  Faubourg 
St.  Mary,  at  the  foot  of  Julia  Street,,  one  of  the  broadest  and  best 
streets  in  that  quarter  of  the  city.  This  was  of  sufficient  capacity 
for  schooners  and  steamboats  of  two  hundred  tons  burden.  When 
this  was  completed,  with  great  difficulty  the  authorities  were  pre- 
vailed upon  to  pave  Julia  Street;  still  the  greatly  increasing  demands 
of  commerce  were  neglected,  and  while  by  these  refusals  the  popu- 
lation of  the  city  proper  was  doing  all  it  could  to  force  down  to  the 
city  this  increasing  trade,  they  neglected  to  do  anything  there  for 
its  accommodation.  The  streets  were  very  narrow  ;  the  warehouses 
small  and  inconvenient;  the  merchants  close  and  unenterprising, 
seemingly  unconscious  of  the  great  revolution  going  on  in  their 
midst. 

From  the  growing  greatness  of  the  surplus  products  of  the  im- 
mense Valley,  this  was  quadrupling  annually.  The  cotton  crop 
of  the  United  States,  forty  years  ago,  scarcely  reached  half  a  million 
of  bales,  and  of  this  New  Orleans  did  not  receive  one-third ;  but  in 
five  years  after,  her  receipts  were  very  nearly  one-half  of  the  entire 
crop.  At  the  same  period,  the  sugar  crop  did  not  amount  to  more 
than  twenty  thousand  hogsheads ;  five  years  thereafter,  it  had  quad- 
rupled, and  the  commerce  from  the  upper  rivers  had  increased  a 
hundred-fold,  and  was  going  on  in  all  the  products  of  the  soil  to 
increase  in  like  ratio.  At  this  time  the  antipathy  was  at  its  acme 
between  the  two  races  or  populations. 

Then  the  Legislature  held  its  sessions  in  New  Orleans,  and  the 


444  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

American  residents,  merchants,  and  property  -  holders  determined 
to  apply  to  the  Legislature  for  an  amendment  of  the  city  charter. 
A  bill  was  introduced  accordingly,  proposing  to  divide  the  city  into 
three  municipalities,  making  Canal  and  Esplanade  streets  the  lines 
of  division  ;  giving  the  city  proper  and  each  faubourg  a  separate 
government :  in  truth,  making  three  cities  where  there  had  been  but 
one.  The  excitement  in  the  city  became  intense,  and  sectional 
animosities  increased  in  bitterness.  To  the  American  population  it 
was  a  matter  of  prime  necessity  ;  to  the  property  -  holders  and  mer- 
chants of  the  city  proper  it  was  a  matter  of  life  and  death.  To 
these  it  was  apparent  that  the  moment  this  bill  became  a  law,  and 
the  Faubourg  St.  Mary  controlled  her  own  finances,  her  streets 
would  be  paved  and  warehouses  spring  up  to  meet  every  demand  — 
wharves  would  be  constructed,  the  quay  or  levee  would  be  shel- 
tered, capital  would  flow  to  the  Faubourg,  and,  in  a  moment  as  it 
were,  she  would  usurp  the  entire  domestic  trade  of  the  country : 
in  other  words,  the  Faubourg  St.  Mary  would  become  the  City  of 
New  Orleans. 

After  carefully  canvassing  the  Legislature,  it  was  found  very 
doubtful  whether  the  bill  would  pass  or  not ;  the  attempt  had  here- 
tofore proved  eminently  unsuccessful,  but  now  it  was  apparent  that 
it  had  gained  many  friends,  and  it  was  not  certain  it  could  be 
defeated.  Under  these  circumstances,  overtures  were  made  by  the 
city  government,  to  expend  all  the  revenue  in  improvements  above 
Canal  Street,  which  should  be  collected  from  the  inhabitants  of  that 
quarter.  This  proposition  was  declined,  and  the  bill  after  a  most 
exciting  struggle  became  a  law.  Under  its  provisions  a  new  council 
and  recorder  were  chosen,  and  a  new  impetus  was  given  the  Faubourg 
St.  Mary,  which  was  now,  under  this  law,  the  second  municipality. 
Extensive  wharves  were  erected  along  the  front  of  the  municipality ; 
streets  were  paved,  and  the  whole  trading  community  felt  the  im- 
provements were  assuming  gigantic  proportions,  and  trade  relieved 
of  onerous  and  vexatious  impositions.  Property  rose  in  value  rap- 
idly ;  Canal  Street  grew  speedily  into  importance.  The  dry-goods 
trade,  hitherto  confined  almost  exclusively  to  Chartres  Street,  came  out 
upon  this  magnificent  street  as  rapidly  as  it  could  be  accommodated. 
From  an  almost  deserted  suburb,  it  became  the  centre  of  business 
and  the  great  boulevard  of  the  city.  A  company  built  -the  great 


FIFTY     YEARS.  445 

Charles  Hotel,  and  here  were  first  opened  hotel  accommodations 
for  ladies  in  New  Orleans,  thirty-one  years  ago. 

The  commercial  crisis  of  1837  retarded  temporarily  the  improve- 
ments, but  only  for  a  day  as  it  were,  and  in  a  few  years  there  was  a  great 
American  city,  fashioned  by  American  energy  and  American  capital 
from  the  unsightly  and  miserable  mire  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Mary. 

To  the  enterprise  and  perseverance  of  two  men  was  mostly  due 
this  rapid  improvement  of  the  city  and  its  new  and  extended  accom- 
modations to  commerce — Samuel  J.  Peters  and  James  H.  Caldwell. 
Mr.  Peters  was  a  native  of  Canada,  and  came  when  quite  a  youth  to 
New  Orleans.  He  married  a  Creole  lady,  a  native  of  the  city;  and, 
after  serving  as  a  clerk  for  some  time  in  the  business  house  of  James 
H.  Leverick  &  Co.,  commenced  business  as  a  wholesale  grocer.  In 
this  business  he  was  successful,  and  continued  in  it  until  his  death. 
He  was  a  man  of  splendid  abilities  and  great  business  tact,  great 
energy  and  application,  and  full  of  public  spirit.  New  Orleans 
he  viewed  as  his  home ;  he  identified  himself  and  family  with  the 
people,  and  his  fame  with  her  prosperity.  To  this  end  he  devoted 
his  time  and  energies ;  around  him  congregated  others  who  lent 
willingly  and  energetically  their  aid  to  accomplish  his  conceptions, 
and  to  fashion  into  realities  the  projections  of  his  mind.  I  remem- 
ber our  many  walks  about  the  second  municipality  — when,  where  now 
is  the  City  Hall,  and  Camp  and  Charles  streets,  and  when  these 
magnificent  streets,  now  stretching  for  miles  away,  ornamented  with 
splendid  buildings  and  other  improvements,  were  but  muddy  roads 
through  open  lots,  with  side-walks  of  flat-boat  gunwales,  with  only 
here  and  there  a  miserable  shanty,  with  a  more  miserable  tenant  — 
to  contemplate  and  talk  of  the  future  we  both  lived  to  see  of  this 
municipality.  Stopping  on  one  occasion  in  front  of  what  is  La- 
fayette Square,  at  the  time  the  bill  was  pending  for  the  division  of 
the  city  into  municipalities,  he  said:  "Here  must  be  the  City  of 
New  Orleans.  You  can  pass  the  bill,  now  before  the  Legislature ;  and 
if  you  will,  I  promise  you  I  will  make  the  Faubourg  St.  Mary  the 
City  of  New  Orleans."  Only  a  few  months  before  his  death,  we 
stood  again  upon  the  same  spot,  surrounded  by  magnificent  build- 
ings—Odd-Fellows' Hall,  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  the  great 
City  Hall,  and  grand  and  beautiful  buildings  of  every  character. 
"  Do  you  remember  my  promise  made  here?"  he  said.  "Have  I 
fulfilled  it?  Many  days  of  arduous  labor  and  nights  of  anxious 
38 


446  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

thought  that  promise  cost  me.  You  did  your  part  well,  and  when  1 
thought  it  impossible.  Have  I  done  mine  ?"  I  could  but  answer: 
"  Well,  and  worthily  !  "  I  never  saw  him  after — but  I  shall  never 
cease  to  remember  him  as  a  great,  true  man. 

James  H.  Caldwell  was  an  Englishman,  and  by  profession  a  come- 
dian. It  was  he  who  first  brought  a  theatrical  company  to  the  West. 
He  had  built  the  first  theatres  in  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  and  New  Or- 
leans, and  first  created  a  taste  for  theatricals  in  the  great  West.  Pos- 
sessing fine  natural  abilities,  and  wonderful  enterprise,  he  pushed  his 
fortunes,  as  a  theatrical  manager,  successfully  for  a  number  of  years. 
He  built  the  Camp  Street  Theatre,  and  made  it  exceedingly  profita- 
ble. Away  back,  forty-five  years  ago,  I  remember  my  first  meeting 
with  him  at  Vicksburg,  then  a  little  hamlet,  with  but  few  houses  and 
many  hills,  abrupt,  and  ugly.  He  and  his  company  were  descend- 
ing to  Natchez,  and  thence,  after  a  short  season,  to  New  Orleans. 
Edwin  Forrest,  then  a  youth,  was  one  of  his  company,  which  also 
included  Russell  and  wife,  Sol.  Smith  and  brother,  with  their  wives, 
Mrs.  Rose  Crampton,  and,  as  a  star,  Junius  Brutus  Booth.  How 
wild  was  the  scene  around  us !  The  river  was  low  and  sluggish  ;  the 
boat  small  and  dirty ;  the  captain  ignorant  and  surly ;  the  company 
full  of  life,  wit,  and  humor.  Slowly  we  labored  on.  The  dense 
forest  came  frowning  to  the  river's  brink,  with  only  here  and  there, 
at  long  intervals,  an  opening,  where  some  adventurous  pioneer  had 
cut  and  burned  the  cane,  and  built  his  shanty.  The  time  was  whiled 
away  with  song,  recitation,  anecdotes,  and  laughter,  until  midnight 
brought  us  to  Natchez.  It  was  a  terrible  night  —  dark,  and  begin- 
ning to  rain.  Under  the  hill  at  Natchez,  forty-five  years  ago,  was  a 
terrible  place.  The  road  up  the  bluff  was  precipitous  and  muddy. 
There  were  no  accommodations  for  decent  people  under  the  hill. 
The  dance-houses  were  in  full  blast.  Boisterous  and  obscene  mirth 
rang  from  them ;  men  and  women  were  drunk ;  some  were  singing 
obscene  songs ;  some  were  shouting  profanity  in  every  disgusting 
term ;  some,  overcome  with  debauchery,  were  insensible  to  shame, 
and  men  and  women,  rushing  from  house  to  house,  gathered  a  crowd 
to  meet  us  as  we  landed.  One  tremendous  slattern  shouted,  as  she 
saw  us  come  on  shore :  "  There  are  the  show-folks ;  now  we  '11  have 
fun  !  "  If  Mrs.  Farren  —  the  daughter  of  Russell  —  still  lives,  I  will 
say  to  her  that  this  was  her  advent  to  Natchez.  Up  that  hill, 
through  mire  and  rain,  I  bore  her  in  my  arms,  on  that  terrible 


FIFTY     YEARS.  447 

night.     Caldwell  alone  was  cheerful ;  Sol.  Smith  joked,  and  Russell 
swore. 

"How  many,  many  memories 
Sweep  o'er  my  spirit  now!" 

It  was  a  peculiarity  of  James  H.  Caldwell  to  do  whatever  he  did 
with  all  his  might.  No  obstacle  seemed  to  deter  or  impede  the  exe- 
cution of  any  public  or  individual  enterprise  of  his.  Beside  being  a 
splendid  performer,  he  was  an  accomplished  gentleman,  and  a  fine, 
classic  scholar.  His  reading  was  select  and  extensive.  At  a  very 
early  day,  he  was  impressed  with  the  future  importance  of  New 
Orleans  as  a  commercial  city,  and  commenced  to  identify  himself 
with  the  American  population,  and  to  make  this  his  future  home. 
His  ideas  on  this  subject  were  in  advance  of  those  of  many  whose 
business  had  always  been  commerce,  and  they  were  generally  deemed 
Utopian  and  extravagant ;  but  his  self-reliance  was  too  great  to  heed 
any  ridicule  thrown  upon  any  thought  or  enterprise  of  his.  He 
invested  his  limited  means  in  property  in  the  second  municipality, 
and  lent  himself,  heart  and  soul,  in  connection  with  Peters,  to  its 
development  into  the  proportions  his  imagination  conceived  it  was 
ultimately  capable  of  attaining,  should  the  extent  of  its  commerce 
reach  the  magnitude  he  supposed  it  would.  Immediately  upon  the 
amendment  of  the  city  charter,  creating  the  municipalities,  and 
making  independent  the  second,  Caldwell  conceived  the  idea  of 
lighting  the  city  with  gas,  and,  at  the  same  time,  of  building  a  city 
hall,  and  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  public  schools. 

Edward  York,  a  merchant  of  the  city,  gave  this  idea  his  special 
attention,  and  co-operated  with  Peters  and  Caldwell  in  every  project 
for  the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  the  municipality.  Caldwell 
set  to  work  in  the  face  of  difficulties,  which  really  seemed  insurmount- 
able, to  effect  his  scheme  of  lighting  the  city  with  gas.  I  was  at  that 
time  a  member  of  the  Legislature.  Caldwell's  scheme  was  to  obtain 
a  charter  for  a  bank,  and  with  this  carry  into  execution  rapidly  his 
scheme.  He  came  to  me,  and  opened  up  his  views.  He  wanted  my 
aid  so  far  as  assisting  him  in  drafting  the  charter,  and  undertaking 
its  passage  through  the  Legislature.  There  was  no  delay,  and  in  a 
short  time  the  gas-light  and  banking  company  was  chartered,  the 
stock  taken,  and  the  bank  in  successful  operation.  Caldwell,  though 
entirely  unacquainted  with  the  practical  necessities  of  constructing  the 


448  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

proper  works  to  complete  his  plan,  went  energetically  to  work  to 
acquire  this,  and  did  so,  and  in  a  few  months  everything  was  system- 
atically and  economically  moving  forward  to  completion.  He  alone 
conceived,  planned,  and  superintended  the  whole  work.  Nor  did  he 
abate  in  energy  and  perseverance  one  moment  until  all  was  completed. 
All  this  while  he  was  a  member  of  the  council,  and  giving  his  atten- 
tion to  many  other  matters  of  prime  importance  to  the  municipality. 

Peters,  Caldwell,  and  York  may  justly  be  said  to  have  been  the 
fathers  of  the  municipality.  To  Edward  York  is  justly  due  the  sys- 
tem of  public  schools,  which  is  so  prominent  a  feature  in  the  institu- 
tions of  New  Orleans.  These  three  have  passed  away,  and  with  them 
all  who  co-operated  with  them  in  this  enterprise,  which  has  effected 
so  much  for  the  city  of  New  Orleans.  They  were  unselfish  public 
benefactors,  and  deserve  this  commemoration. 

Among  the  remarkable  men  of  New  Orleans,  at  this  period,  was 
Bernard  Marigny,  a  scion  of  the  noble  stock  of  the  Marigny  de 
Mandevilles,  of  France.  His  ancestor  was  one  of  the  early  settlers 
of  Louisiana,  and  was  a  man  of  great  enterprise,  and  accumulated  an 
immense  fortune,  which  descended  to  Bernard  Marigny.  This  for- 
tune, at  the  time  it  came  into  the  hands  of  Marigny,  was  estimated 
at  four  millions.  His  education  was  sadly  neglected  in  youth ;  so 
was  his  moral  training.  He  was  a  youth  of  genius,  and  proper  culti- 
vation would,  or  might,  have  made  him  a  man  of  distinguished  fame 
and  great  usefulness.  Coming  into  possession  of  his  immense  estate 
immediately  upon  his  majority,  with  no  experience  in  business  mat- 
ters, flushed  with  youth  and  fortune,  courted  by  every  one,  possess- 
ing a  brilliant  wit,  fond  to  excess  of  amusements,  delighting  in  play, 
and  flattered  by  every  one,  he  gave  up  his  time  almost  entirely  to 
pleasure.  A  prominent  member  of  the  Legislature  for  many  years, 
he  had  identified  himself  with  the  history  of  the  State,  as  had  his 
ancestor  before  him.  He  was  the  youngest  member  of  the  conven- 
tion which  formed  the  first  Constitution  of  the  State,  and  was  the  last 
survivor  of  that  memorable  body.  Soon  after  succeeding  to  his  for- 
tune, and  when  he  was  by  far  the  wealthiest  man  in  the  State,  Louis 
Philippe,  the  fugitive  son  of  Louis  £galite',  Duke  of  Orleans,  came  to 
New  Orleans,  an  exile  from  his  native  land,  after  his  father  had  per- 
ished by  the  guillotine.  Marigny  received  him,  and  entertained  him 
as  a  prince.  He  gave  him  splendid  apartments  in  his  house,  with  a 
suite  of  servants  to  attend  him,  and,  opening  his  purse  to  him,  bade 


FIFTY     YEARS.  44Q 

him  take  ad  libitum.     For  some  years  he  remained  his  guest,  indeed 

ie  deemed  it  necessary  to  leave,  and  when  he  went,  was  fur- 

d  with  ample  means.     Long  years  after,  when   fortune  had 

the  fortunate,  and  was  smiling  upon  the  unfortunate  — 

when  the  exile  was  a  monarch,  and  his  friend  and  benefactor  was 

leedy  and  poor- when  Louis  Philippe  was  king  of  France  and  the 

wealthiest  man  in  Europe,  they  met  again.    Their  circumstances  were 

reversed.     Marigny  was  old  and  destitute.     The  monarch  waited  to 

importuned,  though  apprised  of  his  benefactor's  necessities  and 

pendence,  and  answered  his  appeal  with  a  snuff-box,  and  the  poor 

old  man  learned  that  there  was  truth  in  the  maxim,  "Put  not  your 

trust  in  princes." 

Wasteful  habits,  and  the  want  of  economy  in  every  branch  of  his 
business,  wrought  for  him  what  it  must  for  every  one— "ruin." 
During  the  discussion  in  the  Legislature  upon  the  bill  dividing  the 
city  into  municipalities,  Marigny,  then  a  member,  exerted  himself 
against  the  bill.  He  viewed  it  as  the  destruction  of  the  property  of 
the  ancient  population  in  value,  and  their  consequent  impoverish- 
ment, and  threw  much  of  his  wit  and  satire  at  those  who  were  its 
prominent  supporters.  Among  them  was  Thomas  Green  Davidson, 
a  distinguished  member  of  Congress,  (still  living,  and  long  may  he 
live  !  )  Robert  Hale,  and  myself.  Ridicule  was  Marigny's  forte. 
Upon  the  meeting  of  the  House,  and  before  its  organization  for  bus- 
iness, one  morning,  the  writer,  at  his  desk,  was  approached  by  Alex- 
ander Barrow,  a  member  —  and  who  afterward  died  a  member  of 
the  United  States  Senate  —  who  read  to  me  a  squib  which  Marigny 
was  reading,  at  the  same  moment,  to  a  group  about  him.  It  read 
thus: 

"  Sparks,  and  Thomas  Green  Davidson, 
Rascals  by  nature  and  profession: 
Dey  can  bos  go  to  hell 
Wid  Colonel  Bob  Hailles." 

I  saw  that  the  group  would,  with  Marigny,  soon  approach  me, 
and  made  haste  to  reply.  It  was  only  a  day  or  two  before  we  were 
to  adjourn.  When  they  came,  and  the  squib  was  read,  I  read  the 
following  reply: 

"  Dear  Marigny,  we  're  soon  to  part, 

So  let  that  parting  be  in  peace: 
38*  2D 


45O  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

We  've  not  been  angered  much  in  heart, 
But  e'en  that  little  soon  shall  cease. 

"  When  you  are  sleeping  with  the  dead, 
The  spars  we  've  had  I  '11  not  forget : 
A  warmer  heart,  or  weaker  head, 
On  earth,  I'll  own,  I  never  met. 

"And  on  your  tomb  inscribed  shall  be, 

In  letters  of  your  favorite  brass, 

Here  lies,  O  Lord!  we  grieve  to  see, 

A  man  in  form,  in  head  an  ass." 

He  arched  his  brow,  and,  without  speaking,  retired.  An  hour 
after,  he  came  to  me,  and  said  :  "  Suppose  you  write  no  more  poetry. 
I  shall  stop.  You  can  call  me  a  villain,  a  knave,  a  great  rascal : 
every  gentleman  have  dat  said  about  him.  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Webster, 
General  Jackson,  all  have  been  call  so.  You  can  say  dat ;  but  I  tell 
you,  sir,  I  not  like  to  be  call  ass." 

He  was  the  aggressor,  and,  though  offended,  was  too  chivalrous  to 
quarrel.  He  had  fought  nineteen  duels,  and  I  did  not  want  to  quar- 
rel either. 

For  many  of  his  latter  years  he  was  destitute  and  miserable.  He 
had  seen  all  his  compeers  pass  away,  and  he  felt  that  he  was  in  the 
way  of  a  generation  who  knew  nothing  of  him,  or  his  history,  and 
who  cared  nothing  for  either.  At  nearly  ninety  years  of  age  he  died 
in  extreme  poverty.  Nature  had  done  much  for  Bernard  Marigny. 
His  mind  was  of  no  ordinary  stamp.  He  was  a  natural  orator, 
abounding  in  humor  and  wit,  and  was  the  life  of  society.  His  per- 
son was  symmetry  itself,  about  five  feet  ten  inches,  and  admirably 
proportioned;  and,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  he  was  truly  a  handsome 
man,  so  symmetrical  and  well-preserved  were  his  features,  and  the 
sparkling  light  in  his  eyes.  He  long  enjoyed  the  luxuries  of  life,  and 
lived  to  lament  its  follies  in  indigence  and  imbecility. 

Of  all  the  Creole  population,  A.  B.  Roman  was,  at  this  time,  the 
most  prominent,  and  the  most  talented.  In  very  early  life  he  was 
elected  Governor  of  the  State,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  the  office 
with  great  ability,  and,  after  Claiborne,  with  more  satisfaction  to  the 
people  than  any  man  who  ever  filled  the  office.  The  Constitution 
did  not  admit  of  his  being  elected  a  second  time  as  his  own  succes- 
sor, but  he  might  be  again  chosen  to  fill  the  chair  after  the  four 


FIFTY     YEARS.  45 ! 

years'  service  of  another.  He  was  elected  to  a  second  term  and 
when  it  expired,  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  draining  company 
ffice  he  rendered  most  important  services  to  the  city  in 
planning  and  effecting  a  system  of  drainage  which  relieved  the  city 
of  the  immense  swamp  immediately  in  its  rear. 

In  all  the  relations  of  life,  A.  B.  Roman  was  a  model  — gentle 
and  affable  in  his  manners,  punctiliously  honorable,  faithful  in  all  his 
transactions,  affectionate  and  indulgent  as  a  husband  and  father,  kind 
and  obliging  as  a  neighbor,  faithful  to  all  the  duties  of  a  citizen;  and 
ambitious  to  promote  the  best  interests  of  his  native  State,  he  gave 
his  time  and  talents  for  this  purpose,  wherever  and  whenever  they 
could  be  of  service.  The  war,  in  his  old  age,  left  him  destitute  and 
heart-broken.  I  had  the  opportunity  of  several  conversations  with 
him,  and  found  him  despondent  in  the  extreme.  Our  last  interview 
was  the  week  before  his  death. 

"  In  my  old  age,"  he  said,  "  I  am  compelled,  for  a  decent  support, 
to  accept  a  petty  office  —  recorder  of  mortgages  —  and  I  feel  humili- 
ated. I  see  no  future  for  me  or  my  people.  My  days  are  wellnigh 
over,  and  I  can't  say  I  regret  it." 

Only  five  days  after,  he  fell  dead  in  the  street,  near  his  own  door. 
A  wise  and  good  man  went  to  his  God  when  A.  B.  Roman  died. 
He  was  one  of  a  large  and  respectable  family,  long  resident  in  the 
State,  and  surely  was  one  of  her  noblest  sons. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

BLOWING   UP  THE    LIONESS. 

DOCTOR  CLAPP  —  VIEWS  AND  OPINIONS  —  UNIVERSAL  DESTINY  —  ALEXANDER 
BARROW  —  E.  D.  WHITE  —  CROSS-BREED,  IRISH  RENEGADE  AND  ACADIAN — 
A  HEROIC  WOMAN  —  THE  GINSENG  TRADE  — I-I-I'LL  D-D-DIE  F-F-FIRST. 

DR.  CLAPP,  so  conspicuous  in  the  annals  of  New  Orleans,  was 
from  New  England,  and  was  located  in  New  Orleans  as  a 
Presbyterian  minister,  as  early  as  1824,  and  about  the  same  period 
that  the  great  and  lamented  Lamed  died. 


452  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

His  mind  was  bold  and  original,  analytical  and  independent. 
Soon  after  his  location  and  the  commencement  of  his  ministry,  he 
gave  offence  to  some  of  his  church,  and  especially  to  some  of  his 
brother  pastors,  by  the  enunciation  of  opinions  not  deemed  orthodox. 

There  was  at  this  time  preaching  at  Natchez,  one  Potts,  who  was 
a  Presbyterian,  a  Puritan,  and  extremely  straight-laced  in  doctrine, 
and  eminently  puritan  in  practice,  intolerant,  bigoted,  and  presump- 
tuous. Potts  had  accomplished  one  great  aim  of  his  mission:  he 
had  married  a  lady  of  fortune,  and  assumed  more  purity  than  any 
one  else,  and  was  a  sort  of  self-constituted  exponent  of  the  only  true 
doctrines  of  his  church.  Arrogant  and  conceited,  he,  though  a  very 
young  man,  thrust  himself  forward  as  a  censor,  and  very  soon  was  in 
controversy  with  Dr.  Clapp.  Without  a  tithe  of  his  talent,  or  a  grain 
of  his  piety,  he  assumed  to  arraign  him  on  the  ground  of  unfaithful- 
ness to  the  tenets  of  the  church.  This  controversy  was  bitter  and 
continued.  The  result  was,  that  Dr.  Clapp  dissolved  connection  with 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and,  at  the  call  of  the  most  numerous  and 
talented  as  well  as  wealthy  congregation  ever  preached  to,  up  to  that 
time,  in  New  Orleans,  established  himself  as  an  independent,  and 
continued  to  preach  for  many  years  —  indeed,  until  age  and  infirmity 
compelled  him  to  retire. 

His  peculiar  religious  opinions  were  more  Unitarian  than  Presby- 
terian. They  consisted  of  an  enlightened  philosophy  derived  from 
natural  revelation,  which  elevated  Deity  above  the  passions,  preju- 
dices, loves,  and  hates  of  mortality.  His  GOD  was  INFINITE,  ALL- 
PERVADING,  and  PERFECT. 

The  purity  of  his  character,  and  his  wonderful  intellect,  combined, 
brought  around  him  the  most  intelligent  and  moral  of  the  population, 
and  his  opinions  won  many  converts.  He  preached  and  practised  a 
rational  religion,  defined  a  rigid  morality  as  the  basis  and  main  requi- 
site to  true  piety,  and  the  doing  good  toward  his  fellow-man,  the 
duty  of  man  toward  God. 

The  faith  he  exacted  was  predicated  upon  works.  .  .  .  That  he  who 
had  faith  in  the  existence  of  the  soul,  and  who  believed  its  future 
dependent  upon  him,  should  be  taught  this  faith  was  best  exemplified 
by  a  faithful  discharge  of  all  the  duties  imposed  by  society  and  law. 
That  he  who  was  pious,  was  a  good  husband,  father,  and  friend,  a 
good  neighbor,  an  honest,  and  sincere  man,  faithful  in  the  discharge 
of  all  his  duties  as  a  citizen  and  member  of  society  :  resting  here  the 


FIFTY     YEARS.  453 

hope  of  future  reward,  and  not  looking  to  the  merits  of  any  other  for 
that  salvation,  which  the  mind  hopes,  and  the  heart  craves  for  all 
eternity;  fixing  a  responsibility  individually  and  indivisibly  upon 
each  and  every  one,  to  earn  salvation  by  discharging  temporal  duties 
which  secure  the  harmony,  well-being,  and  general  love  of  mankind. 
Any  other  doctrine,  he  contended,  destroyed  man's  free  agency,  and 
discouraged  the  idea  that  virtue  and  goodness  were  essential  to  true 
piety.  God  had  created  him  for  an  especial  mission.  His  existence 
in  time  was  his  chrysalis  condition ;  to  make  this  as  nearly  perfect  as 
was  possible  to  his  nature,  he  was  gifted  with  mind,  passion,  and  pro- 
pensities—  the  former  to  conceive  and  control  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  imposed  upon  him  in  this  state :  this  done,  he  perished  as  to 
time,  and  awoke  prepared  for  eternity.  These  ideas  were  impressed  ' 
with  a  logic  irresistible  to  the  enlightened  mind  —  not  clouded  with 
the  bigotry  of  fanaticism  —  and  an  eloquence  so  persuasive  and  sweet 
as  to  charm  the  heart  and  kindle  it  into  love. 

He  never  burned  brimstone  under  the  noses  of  his  auditory,  nor 
frenzied  their  imaginations  with  impassioned  appeals  to  supernatural 
agencies.  He  expounded  the  Scriptures  as  the  teachings  of  men. 
His  learning  was  most  profound,  especially  in  the  languages.  He 
understood  thoroughly  the  Hebrew  and  Greek.  He  read  from  the 
originals  the  Scriptures,  and  interpreted  them  to  his  hearers,  as  to 
their  meaning  in  their  originals,  and  disrobed  them  of  the  super- 
natural character  which  an  ignorant  fanaticism  has  thrown  over  them, 
and  which  time  and  folly  has  indurated  beyond  the  possibility  of 
learning  and  science  to  crack  or  crush. 

A  great  original  thinker,  untrammelled  by  the  schools,  and  inde- 
pendent of  precedents,  he  saw  nature  before  him,  and  studied  closely 
all  her  developments.  Eminently  schooled  in  the  philosophy  of 
life,  deeply  read  in  the  human  mind  and  the  heart,  he  searched  for 
all  the  influences  operating  its  conclusions,  and  the  motives  of  human 
action :  the  relations  of  man  to  external  nature,  the  connection  of 
mind  with  matter,  the  origin  of  things,  their  design  as  developed  in 
their  creation,  their  connection  and  dependence,  one  upon  the  other, 
and  the  relation  of  all  to  the  Creator,  and  in  those  the  duty  of  man. 
It  was  his  idea,  that,  commencing  from  the  humblest,  and  ascending 
to  man,  through  created  nature,  the  design  was  manifest  that  these 
were  all,  in  the  animal  and  the  vegetable  kingdom,  assigned  by  the 
Creator  for  man's  uses.  To  him  alone,  in  all  these  creations,  are  given 


454  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

the  faculties  necessary  to  a  comprehension  of  the  nature  of  all  of 
these,  as  well  as  their  uses. 

From  this  fact,  so  powerfully  prominent  in  all  natural  developments, 
he  viewed  man  as  the  most  intimate  relation  of  the  Creator  on  this 
globe,  and  discovering  in  him  no  designs  beyond  the  cultivation  of 
the  great  faculty  of  thought  for  time,  the  inference  was  natural  that 
his  future  was  not  for  time,  or  time's  uses.  That  all  was  only  fitting 
the  soul,  which  his  instincts  tell  him  exists  within,  when,  refined  by 
time,  and  the  probation  of  life,  for  the  independence,  and  the  fruition 
of  the  sublime  designs  of  God  in  eternal  life,  he  should  ascend  to  his 
destined  sphere,  etherialized,  and  know  his  Creator  and  the  future  of 
his  being ;  when  speculation  should  cease,  and  reality  and  unam- 
biguous truth  be  made  manifest.  Of  this  great  truth  his  mind  was  so 
fully  impressed  that  all  his  life  was  by  it  governed.  His  convictions 
were  palpable  in  his  conduct,  for  it  was  in  strict  conformity  with  these 
opinions.  The  aberrations  from  virtue  and  the  laws  of  morals,  as 
established  by  man  for  the  better  regulation  of  his  conduct  toward 
his  fellow-men,  he  deemed  the  result  of  improper  education,  and 
especially  the  education  of  the  heart,  and  the  want  of  the  training 
this  gives  to  the  natural  desires  of  his  organization.  That  these 
desires,  passions,  and  instincts,  are  given  as  essential  to  his  mission  in 
time,  and  those  properly  educated,  trained,  and  directed,  are  neces- 
sary to  his  fulfilment  of  life's  duties,  in  the  perfection  of  the  Creator's 
design,  and,  when  so  educated  and  directed,  secure  to  the  individ- 
ual, and  to  society,  the  consummation  of  this  design;  but  when  per- 
verted, become  a  punishment  to  both  society  and  the  individual,  for 
the  neglect  of  a  prime  duty ;  and  belong  alone  to  time.  Similar 
results  he  saw  from  similar  causes,  in  the  operations  of  inanimate 
life.  The  design  of  the  tree  was  to  grow  upward,  but  an  unnatural 
obstacle,  in  the  falling  of  another,  bends  it  away,  and  its  growth  is 
perverted  from  the  original  design,  yet  it  grows  on  and  completes 
the  cycle  of  its  destiny. 

The  stream  flows  onward,  naturally  obeying  a  natural  law;  but  an 
obstacle  interposes  and  interrupts  the  design  ;  still  it  will  go  on  to 
complete  its  cycle,  obedient  to  its  destiny,  though  turned  from  its 
natural  channel :  and  these  are  the  same  in  the  end  with  those  undis- 
turbed in  the  fulfilment  of  their  designs.  All  crime  or  vice  is  of 
time,  and  made  such  by  the  laws  of  man.  The  aggregation  of  men 
into  societies  or  communities  necessitate  laws  to  establish  moral, 


FIFTY    YEARS.  455 

legal,  and  political  duties,  and  to  provide  punishments  for  the 
infraction  of  these.  The  right  to  acquire  and  possess  the  fruits  of 
labor  —  the  right  of  free  thought  —  the  right  to  enjoy  the  natural 
relations  of  life,  and  the  privileges  conferred  by  society  —  the  right 
to  live  undisturbed,  all  are  the  objects  of  legal  protection ;  because 
the  attributes  of  man's  nature,  unrestrained  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duties  to  his  fellow-man,  will  invade  these  rights,  and  hence  the 
necessity  of  a  universal  rule  of  action.  All  these  attributes  are 
susceptible  of  education  as  to  what  is  right,  and  what  is  wrong;  and 
it  is  the  duty  of  religion  to  impress  upon  the  mind  the  importance 
of  the  one  to  the  security  of  society,  and  the  evil  of  the  other  in  its 
effect  upon  the  design  of  the  Creator.  This  design  is  harmony  and 
love  universal,  and  pervades  all  nature,  where  a  free  will  is  not 
vouched ;  but  with  this  free  will  is  given  a  capacity  to  cultivate  it 
into  that  love  and  harmony,  and  thus  to  consummate  the  great  design 
of  the  Creator. 

He  taught,  religion  was  the  sublimation  of  moral  thought  and 
moral  action ;  because  it  was  in  harmony  with  nature,  and  subserved 
the  purposes  of  the  Creator  —  because  it  brought  man  into  harmony 
with  every  other  creation,  whose  design  was  apparent  to  his  capacity 
of  understanding  —  that  this  design,  made  manifest  to  his  mind, 
taught  him  his  duty,  and  it  was  the  province  of  the  teacher  to  show 
to  all  this  design,  and  illustrate  this  harmony.  The  teacher  should 
know  before  he  attempted  to  teach.  He  should  disabuse  his  own 
mind  of  prejudices  and  superstitions  at  variance  with  nature,  and 
study  natural  organization  to  learn  the  intention  of  the  Creator; 
learn  the  nature  of  plants,  the  organization  of  the  earth,  its  com- 
ponents how  formed,  and  of  what  —  all  animal  creation — the  mech- 
anism of  the  universe,  its  motions  —  the  exact  perfection  of  every 
creation  for  the  design  of  that  creation;  see  and  know  God's  will, 
and  God's  wisdom,  and  God's  power  in  all  of  them ;  descend  to 
the  minor  and  most  infinitesimal  creation ;  learn  its  organization,  and 
see  God  here  with  a  design,  and  a  perfect  organization,  to  work  it  out 
—  learn  truth,  where  only  truth  exists,  from  God  in  all  created  nature, 
and  teach  this,  that  all  may  learn  and  conserve  to  the  same  great 
end. 

When  comprehended,  this  planet,  with  all  its  creations,  was 
designed  for  man,  and  to  perfect  him  for  the  use  of  God's  design. 
These  are  for  consummation  in  eternity  —  all  that  relates  to  him  in 


456  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

time,  but  subserves  the  great  end.  The  relationship  to  him  is  appa- 
rent in  all  that  surrounds  him  on  earth.  Step  by  step  it  comes  up  to 
him,  and  all  is  for  his  use.  At  this  point,  all  stops  except  himself. 
What  was  his  design  as  manifested  in  his  nature  ?  Surely,  not  solely 
to  control  and  appropriate  all  created  matter  surrounding  him  —  not 
simply  to  probate  for  a  period,  and  pass  away.  It  must  be,  that  he 
is  the  link  perfected  in  this  probation  for  a  higher  creation,  as  a  part 
of  a  more  consummate  perfection  revealed  through  death.  It 
cannot  be,  that  the  mind  given  to  him,  alone,  was  oniy  given  to 
learn  in  this  combination  of  elements  —  earth,  air,  fire,  and  water — 
the  startling  and  omnipotent  wisdom  of  the  all-wise  Creator,  and 
then  to  perish  with  knowing  no  more  of  that  God,  which  this  knowl- 
edge has  created  so  consummate  a  desire  to  know. 

The  cycle  of  man's  destiny  is  not  in  time,  that  of  all  else  is ;  and 
that  destiny  centres  in  his  use,  and  is  complete.  If  for  him  there  is 
not  a  future,  why  were  the  instincts  of  his  nature  given  ?  Why  the 
power  to  learn  so  much  ?  To  trace  in  the  planetary  system  divine 
wisdom,  and  divine  power ;  to  see  and  know  the  same  in  the  mite 
which  floats  in  the  sunbeam?  If  this  is  all  he  is  ever  to  know,  does 
this  complete  a  destiny  for  use  ?  if  so,  for  what  ?  Can  it  be,  simply 
to  propagate  his  species,  and  perish  ?  and  was  all  this  grand  creation 
of  the  earth,  and  all  things  therein,  made  to  subserve  him  for  so  mean 
a  purpose  ?  It  cannot  be.  Life  is  a  probation,  death  the  key  which 
unlocks  the  portal  through  which  we  pass  to  the  perfection  of  the 
design  of  God. 

In  these  views  and  opinions  Dr.  Clapp  lived  and  died.  When  worn 
out  with  labor  and  the  ravages  of  time,  he  sought  to  renovate  his 
exhausted  energies,  by  removing  to  a  higher  latitude,  and  selected 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  for  his  future  home.  He  had  seen  most  of  his 
early  friends  pass  into  eternity,  in  the  fruition  of  time,  and  felt  and 
knew  it  was  only  a  day  that  his  departure  for  eternity  was  delayed ; 
yet  how  calmly  and  contentedly  he  awaited  the  mandate  which  should 
bid  him  home! 

His  belief  in  the  universal  destiny  of  man  made  him  universally 
tolerant.  His  intimates  were  of  every  creed,  and  the  harmony  exist- 
ing with  these  and  himself  made  his  life  beautiful  as  exemplary. 
With  the  ministers  of  every  creed  he  was  affectionately  social : 
had  no  prejudices,  cultivated  no  animosities,  and  was  universally 
charitable.  He  inculcated  his  principles  by  example,  encoi 


FIFTY     YEARS.  457 

social  communion  with  all  sects,  teaching  that  he  whose  life  is  in  the 
right  cannot  be  in  the  wrong.  To  a  very  great  extent  he  infused 
his  spirit  into  the  people  of  his  adopted  city.  His  most  intimate 
associate  was  that  very  remarkable  Israelite,  Judah  Luro.  This 
man  was  a  native  of  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  in  early  life  came 
to  New  Orleans  and  commenced  a  small  business,  to  which  he  gave 
his  energetic  attention.  His  means,  though  small  at  the  beginning, 
were  carefully  husbanded,  and  ultimately  grew  into  immense  wealth. 
He  was  exceedingly  liberal  in  his  nature,  philanthropic,  and  devoted 
to  his  friends.  On  the  night  of  the  22d  of  December,  1814,  he  was 
engaged  in  the  battle  between  the  English  and  American  forces, 
near  New  Orleans,  and  was  severely  wounded.  In  this  condition 
he  was  found,  when  bleeding  profusely  from  his  wounds  and 
threatened  with  speedy  death,  by  a  young  merchant  of  the  city, 
Resin  D.  Shepherd,  who  generously  lifted  him  to  his  shoulder,  after 
stanching  his  wounds,  and  bore  him,  through  brambles  and  mire,  in 
the  darkness,  to  a  place  of  security  and  comfort,  some  miles  distant 
from  the  scene  of  the  fight.  He  never  lost  sight  of  this  friend. 
When  he  came  to  die,  he  made  him  executor  to  his  will,  and 
residuary  legatee,  after  disposing  of  some  half  a  million  of  money 
in  other  legacies.  These  were  all  immediately  paid  by  Mr.  Shepherd, 
who  entered  upon  the  possession  of  all  the  property  the  deceased  died 
possessed  of — consequently,  the  extent  of  his  fortune  was  never  pub- 
licly known. 

This  man  built  upon  his  own  property,  on  Gravier  Street,  fronting 
St.  Charles,  and  immediately  across  Gravier  Street  from  the  St. 
Charles  Hotel,  a  church  for  Dr.  Clapp,  in  which  his  congregation 
worshipped  for  many  years.  When  the  hotel  was  built,  and  busi- 
ness began  crowding  around  this  locality,  it  became  necessary  to 
remove  his  church.  Again,  Mr.  Luro  built  for  him  a  church,  in  a 
more  private  and  eligible  position,  on  the  corner  of  Julia  and  St. 
Charles  streets,  and  donated  it  to  the  pastor  and  congregation  of 
the  Gravier-Street  Church.  Here  Mr.  Clapp  continued  his  ministry 
during  the  remaining  time  of  his  residence  in  New  Orleans. 

He  found  with  the  cultivated  and  intelligent  of  New  Orleans  an 

approval  of  his  teachings  and  example.     The  consequence  was,  and 

is,  the  entire  absence  of  sectarian  dissensions,  and  a  social  intercourse 

between  all,  resulting  in  a  united  effort  for  the  common  good,  and  the 

39 


458  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

maintenance  of  moral  sentiments  and  moral  conduct  —  the  basis  and 
source  of  true  and  triumphant  religion. 

"The  deeds  that  men  do,  live  after  them."  Of  no  man  can  this  be 
more  truly  said  than  of  Dr.  Clapp.  Through  every  phase  of  society 
his  example  and  teachings  continue  to  live  ;  and  every  virtuous  and 
intelligent  man  in  the  community  of  Dr.  Clapp's  ministry,  in  New 
Orleans,  conspires  to  continue  the  effect  of  them. 

In  no  community  on  earth  is  there  a  greater  diversity  of  nation- 
alities, than  in  that  of  New  Orleans,  where  every  sect  of  religion- 
ists is  to  be  found.  All  pursue  the  worship  of  God  after  their  own 
manner  of  belief,  exciting  no  jealousies,  heart-burnings,  or  hatreds. 
All  agree  that  a  common  end  is  the  aim  of  all,  and  that  a  common 
destiny  awaits  mankind. 

In  the  pursuits  of  life,  and  the  duties  of  time,  nothing  of  religious 
intolerance  enters.  A  man's  opinions  upon  that  subject  are  his  own, 
and  for  these  he  is  responsible  to  God  only.  His  neighbor  respects 
his  prejudices  and  feelings,  and  appreciates  him  according  to  his 
conduct  toward  his  fellow-man,  and  the  discharge  of  his  duties  to 
society. 

Good  follows  the  honest  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  vocation, 
from  every  moral  and  religious  teacher,  if  he  is  sincere  and  earnest, 
whether  Jew  or  Christian.  An  intelligent  and  virtuous  community 
appreciates  this,  and  encourages  such  efforts  as  advance  and  sustain 
public  morals  and  social  harmony.  How  such  a  man  is  esteemed  in 
New  Orleans,  a  recent  instance  is  ample  illustration.  A  distinguished 
Jewish  Rabbi,  long  a  resident  minister  of  his  faith  in  that  city,  was 
called  to  minister  in  a  synagogue  in  the  city  of  New  York.  His 
walk  and  his  work  had  been  upright  and  useful.  The  good  of  all 
denominations  were  unwilling  to  give  up  so  good  and  so  useful  a 
man.  In  the  true  spirit  of  pure  religion,  a  large  committee,  ap- 
pointed by  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  from  among  every  sect,  com- 
posed of  the  leading  and  most  influential  men  of  the  city,  waited 
upon  him,  and  influenced  him  to  remain  among  them,  and  continue 
his  vocation  and  pious  usefulness  in  the  field  where  he  had  labored  so 
long  and  so  efficiently. 

To  the  teachings  of  Dr.  Clapp,  much  of  this  toleration  is  due. 
This  tone  of  feeling  is  the  offspring  of  enlightenment,  the  enemy  of 
bigotry.  His  mission  completed,  he  retired  for  health  and  quiet  to 
a  point  from  which  he  could  contemplate  the  results  of  his  labors. 


FIFTY    YEARS.  459 

He  saw  that  they  were  good,  and  felt  his  whole  duty  had  been 
done.  In  the  fulness  of  years  he  awaited  the  coming  of  the  hour 
when,  released  from  his  prison-house  and  freed  from  earth,  he 
should  go  to  his  reward.  It  came,  and  ere  the  spirit  was  plumed  for 
its  final  flight,  he  asked  that  its  wornout  casket  should  be  carried 
and  deposited  by  those  he  loved  in  life,  in  the  city  of  his  adoption 
and  love  ;  where,  in  death,  the  broken  community  of  life  should  be 
restored.  This  was  done,  and  now  with  them  he  sleeps  well. 

Memory  turns  sadly  back  to  many,  now  no  more,  who  were  com- 
peers of  Dr.  Clapp,  and  to  New  Orleans,  as  New  Orleans  was ;  but 
to  none  with  more  melancholy  pleasure  than  to  Alexander  Barrow 
and  E.  D.  White.  These  were  both  natives  of  the  city  of  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee.  Both  came  to  New  Orleans  in  early  life:  White, 
with  his  father  when  a  child,  and  Barrow,  when  a  young  man. 
White  was  left  an  orphan  when  quite  young,  in  Attakapas,  where  his 
father  lived,  and  with  very  limited  means.  He  struggled  on  in  the 
midst  of  a  people  whose  very  language  was  alien  to  his  own,  and 
managed  to  acquire  a  limited  education,  with  which  he  commenced 
the  study  of  the  law,  the  profession  of  his  father.  When  admitted 
to  practice,  he  located  at  Donaldsonville,  in  the  Parish  of  Ascension, 
where  he  rose  rapidly  to  distinction.  Appointed  subsequently  to  a 
judgeship  in  New  Orleans,  he  removed  there  to  reside.  This  appoint- 
ment he  did  not  continue  to  hold  for  any  length  of  time,  his  popu- 
larity being  such  as  to  point  him  out  as  a  fit  person  to  contest  with 
Mr.  Livingston  the  seat  in  Congress  then  filled  by  the  latter.  In 
this  contest  he  was  successful,  and  continued  to  represent  the  district 
until  he  was  chosen  Governor.  He  filled  this  chair  for  the  consti- 
tutional period  of  four  years,  and  immediately  upon  the  expiration 
of  his  term,  he  was  again  elected  to  Congress.  He  continued  to 
represent  the  district  until  the  treachery  of  a  family,  numerous  and 
ignorant,  yet  influential  with  their  ignorant,  uneducated  neighbors, 
caused  him  to  be  beaten.  They  succeeded  subsequently  in  placing 
one  of  their  family  in  his  place,  only  to  show  the  triumph  of  folly 
and  stupidity  over  worth'and  intelligence.  Yet  this  cross  of  an  Irish 
renegade  upon  an  Acadian  woman  was  a  fit  representative  of  a  large 
majority  of  his  constituents. 

The  climate  of  Washington  operated  injuriously  upon  his  consti- 
tution. Long  accustomed  to  that  of  Louisiana,  it  failed  to  resist  the 
terrible  winter -climate  of  Washington,  and  he  found  his  health 


460  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

broken.  He  returned  to  his  plantation,  on  the  Bayou  La  Fourche, 
where  he  lingered  for  a  year  or  more,  and  died,  in  the  meridian  of 
life,  leaving  a  young  and  interesting  family. 

Governor  White  was  a  man  of  great  eccentricity  of  character,  but 
with  a  ripe  intellect,  and  a  heart  overflowing  with  generous  emotions 
and  tenderness.  He  loved  his  kind,  and  his  life  was  most  unselfishly 
devoted  to  their  service.  Like  all  who  have  for  any  time  made  her 
their  home,  he  loved  Louisiana  first  of  all  things.  He  was  too  young 
when  coming  from  his  native  land  to  remember  it,  and  his  first 
attachment  was  for  the  soil  of  his  adoption.  He  was  reared  in  the 
midst  of  the  Creole  population  of  the  State;  spoke  French  and 
Spanish  as  his  mother-tongue,  and  possessed  the  confidence  and  affec- 
tion of  these  people  in  a  most  remarkable  degree. 

Governor  White  was  a  passenger  on  board  the  ill-fated  steamer 
Lioness,  in  company  with  many  friends,  among  whom  were  Josiah 
S.  Johnston,  (the  elder  brother  of  A.  Sidney  Johnston,  who  fell  at  the 
battle  of  Shiloh,)  and  Judge  Boyce,  of  the  District  Court.  Josiah  S. 
Johnston  was,  at  the  time,  a  Senator  in  Congress.  Some  miles  above 
the  mouth  of  Red  River,  and  in  that  stream,  the  boat  blew  up, 
many  of  the  passengers  being  killed,  among  whom  was  Judge  John- 
ston. Governor  White  was  terribly  burned,  and  by  many  it  was 
thought  this  led  to  his  death.  His  disease  was  bronchitis,  which 
supervened  soon  after  this  terrible  disaster.  The  steamer  had  in  her 
hold  considerable  powder.  This,  it  was  said  at  the  time,  was  ignited 
by  the  mate  of  the  boat,  who  had  become  enraged  from  some  cause 
with  the  captain.  The  body  of  Judge  Johnston  was  never  found. 
The  boat  was  blown  to  atoms,  with  the  exception  of  the  floor  of  the 
ladies'  cabin.  The  upper  works  were  all  demolished.  This  floor 
was  thrown,  it  seemed  almost  miraculously,  intact  upon  the  water. 
There  were  some  six  or  eight  ladies  on  board,  who  were  saved  on 
this  floor.  When  the  smoke  had  lifted  sufficiently  to  permit  a  night 
view  —  for  it  was  night  —  Governor  White  and  Judge  Boyce  were 
seen  swimming  near  this  floor  of  the  wreck.  White  was  burned  ter- 
ribly in  the  face  and  on  the  hands,  and  was'blinded  by  this  burning. 
The  ladies  were  in  their  night-clothes  ;  but  what  will  not  woman  do 
to  aid  the  distressed,  especially  in  the  hour  of  peril  ?  One  of  the 
most  accomplished  ladies  of  the  State  snatched  from  her  person  her 
robe  de  chambre,  and,  throwing  one  end  to  the  struggling  Governor, 
called  to  him  to  reach  for  it,  and  with  it  pulled  him  to  the  wreck, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  46! 

and  kindly,  with  the  aid  of  others,  lifted  him  on.  The  same  kind 
office  was  performed  for  Boyce,  and  they  were  saved.  Though  a 
stranger  to  the  Governor,  this  great-hearted  woman  tore  into  strips 
her  gown,  and  kindly  did  the  work  of  the  Good  Samaritan,  in  bind- 
ing up  the  wounds  of  one  she  did  not  know,  had  never  before  seen, 
and  to  whose  rank  and  character  she  was  equally  a  stranger ;  and 
when  she  was  floating  upon  a  few  planks,  at  the  mercy  of  the  waters, 
and  surrounded  by  interminable  forests  covering  the  low  and  mucky 
shores  of  Red  River  for  many  miles,  where  human  foot  had  rarely 
trod,  and  human  habitation  may  never  rest  —  one  garment  her  only 
covering,  and  all  she  could  hope  for,  until  some  passing  steamer 
should  chance  to  rescue  them,  or  until  she  should  float  to  the  river's 
mouth,  and  find  a  human  habitation.  She,  too,  is  in  the  grave,  but 
the  memory  of  this  act  embalms  her  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  knew 
her.  Blessed  one  !  —  for  surely  she  who  blessed  all  who  came  within 
her  sphere,  and  only  lived  to  do  good,  must  in  eternity  and  for  eter- 
nity be  blest,  like  thousands  of  others  who  have  ministered  in 
kindness  for  a  day,  and  then  went  to  the  grave  —  in  thy  youth  and 
loveliness  thou  wert  exhaled  from  earth :  like  a  storm-stricken  flower 
in  the  morning  of  its  bloom,  wilted  and  dead,  the  fragrance  of  thy 
virtues  is  the  incense  of  thy  memory  ! 

It  was  long  before  Governor  White  was  fully  restored  to  sight. 
No  public  man,  and  especially  one  so  long  in  public  life,  ever 
enjoyed  more  fully  the  confidence  of  his  constituents  than  Edward 
Douglass  White.  His  private  character  was  never  impeached,  even 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  excited  political  contests,  nor  did  the  breath 
of  slander  ever  breathe  upon  his  fair  fame,  from  his  childhood  to  the 
grave. 

I  am  incompetent  to  write  of  Alexander  Barrow  as  his  merits 
deserve.  In  him  all  that  was  noble  and  all  that  was  respectable  was 
most  happily  combined.  A  noble  and  commanding  person,  a  manly 
and  intellectual  face,  an  eye  that  bespoke  his  heart,  a  soul  that  soared 
in  every  relation  of  life  above  everything  that  was  little  or  selfish,  a 
ripe  and  accurate  judgment,  a  purpose  always  honorable  and  always 
open,  without  concealment  or  deceit,  and  an  integrity  pure  and 
unsullied  as  the  ether  he  breathed,  an  affectionate  father,  a  devoted 
husband,  a  firm  and  unflinching  friend  through  every  phase  of  for- 
tune —  in  fine,  every  element  which  makes  a  man  united  in  Alexan- 
der Barrow.  Dear  reader,  if  I  seem  extravagant  in  these  words, 
39* 


462  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

pardon  it  to  me.  When  seventy  winters  have  passed  over  your  head, 
and  you  turn  back  your  memory  upon  all  that  has  passed,  recall- 
ing the  incidents  and  the  friends  of  life,  and  you  remember  those 
which  have  transpired  with  him  you  loved  best  and  trusted  most,  and 
remember  that  he  was  always  true,  never  capricious,  always  wise, 
never  foolish,  always  sincere,  never  equivocal,  and  who  never  failed 
you  in  the  darkest  hours  of  adversity,  but  was  always  the  same  to 
you  in  kindness,  forbearance,  and  devotion,  remember  such  was  ever 
to  me  Alexander  Barrow,  and  forgive  this  wild  outpouring  of  the 
heart  to  the  virtues  of  the  friend,  tried  so  long,  and  loved  so  well. 
For  mqre  than  twenty  years  he  has  been  in  his  grave ;  but  in  all  that 
time  no  day  has  ever  passed  that  Alick  has  not  stood  before  me  as  he 
was  when  we  were  young  and  life  was  full  of  hope.  His  blood  with 
mine  mingles  in  the  veins  of  our  grandchildren.  O  God  !  I  would 
there  were  nothing  to  make  this  a  painful  memory. 

Barrow  served  some  years  in  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  and  was 
thence  transferred  to  the  United  States  Senate,  where,  after  a  service 
of  six  years,  he  died,  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood.  Those  who 
remember  the  speech  of  Hannegan,  and  the  attempt  of  Crittenden, 
who,  under  the  deep  sorrow  of  his  heart,  sank  voiceless  and  in  tears 
to  his  chair  —  the  feeling  which  filled  and  moved  the  Senate  when 
paying  the  last  tribute  to  his  dead  body,  coffined  and  there  before 
them  in  the  Senate  chamber  —  may  know  how  those  estimated  the 
man  who  knew  him  best.  Friend  of  my  heart,  farewell !  We  soon 
shall  meet,  with  vernal  youth  restored,  to  endure  forever. 

There  was  another,  Walter  Brashear,  our  intimate  friend  for  long 
years.  He  went  to  eternity  after  a  pilgrimage  of  eighty-eight  years 
in  the  sunshine  and  shadows  of  this  miserable  world.  He  was  a 
native  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  but  with  his  parents  went  to  Ken- 
tucky, when  a  boy.  These  soon  died,  and  Walter  was  left  an  orphan 
and  poor,  then  but  a  boy.  After  attending  a  common  neighborhood 
school  in  the  County  of  Fayette,  near  Lexington,  one  year,  he  found 
it  necessary  to  find  support  in  some  employment.  Walking  the  streets 
of  Lexington  in  search  of  this,  the  breeze  blew  to  his  feet  a  fragment 
of  newspaper,  which  he  picked  up  and  read  from  curiosity.  Here  he 
found  an  advertisement  inviting  those  who  had  ginseng  for  sale,  to 
call.  He  knew  there  was  plenty  of  this  root  to  be  found  in  portions 
of  Kentudcy,  and  determined  immediately  to  embark  in  the  specu- 
lation of  searching  for  it  and  sending  it  to  Philadelphia.  He  labored 


FIFTY    YEARS.  463 

assiduously,  and  soon  had  acquired  a  considerable  sum  of  money  for 
times,  1801.  He  employed  several  hands  to  assist  him  the 
ensuing  season,  and  after  forwarding  the  root  collected,  found  there 
was  no  longer  any  market  for  it  in  Philadelphia.  Suspecting  the  person 
to  whom  he  had  previously  sold  was  deceiving  him,  in  order  to  drive 
a  profitable  bargain  with  him,  he  determined  to  go  himself  with  his 
venture  to  China.  This  he  did,  and,  making  so  handsome  a  business 
of  it,  he  returned  and  immediately  went  to  work  to  procure  a  much 
larger  amount  for  another  venture.  This  he  likewise  accomplished, 
but  was  less  fortunate  than  before,  though  he  made  some  money.  He 
was  now  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  had  been  twice  to  China;  but 
had  not  contracted  much  love  for  commerce  or  voyaging  upon  the 
sea.  He  married  soon  after  his  return,  read  medicine,  and  com- 
menced the  practice  of  it  in  Kentucky.  Forming  an  intimacy  with 
Mr.  Clay,  they  soon  became  close  friends,  being  nearly  of  the  same 
age,  and  very  like  in  character.  After  some  years'  residence  in  Ken- 
tucky as  a  physician,  he  determined  on  emigrating  to  Louisiana,  and 
embarking  in  the  business  of  sugar-planting.  Purchasing  Belle  Isle, 
an  island  off  the  coast  of  Attakapas,  he  removed  his  family  there  about 
1824.  He  was  successful  in  his  new  vocation;  but  not  liking  an 
island  residence,  where  he  was  twenty  miles  from  a  neighbor,  he 
purchased  a  residence  upon  Berwick's  Bay,  and  a  portion  of  Tiger 
Island,  which  was  immediately  opposite,  and  there  made  a  new  plan- 
tation, which  is  now  the  site  of  Brashear  City.  At  this  place  he  lies 
buried,  by  his  children,  all  of  whom,  save  one  daughter,  are  there 
with  him. 

For  many  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of 
his  adoption,  an  honest  and  efficient  one,  of  fine  abilities,  and  great 
will.  He  usually  triumphed  in  what  he  undertook.  His  fine  social 
qualities  attached  to  him  many  friends.  His  devotion  tg  them  was 
unflinching,  and  he  rather  preferred  to  fight  for  these  than  play  with 
any  others.  His  courage  was  truly  chivalrous,  and  he  is  remembered 
by  all  who  knew  him,  and  yet  live,  as  the  man  who  never  felt  the 
sensation  of  fear. 

An  unfortunate  difficulty  with  a  neighbor,  Dr.  Tolls,  brought  on  a 
personal  rencontre.  His  antagonist  was  known  to  be  brave  and  phys- 
ically powerful ;  but  in  this  affair,  Brashear,  after  receiving  a  number 
of  blows,  wrested  away  his  enemy's  cane,  and  would  soon  have  had 
the  better  of  the  fight,  but  persons  interposing  prevented  it. 


464  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

"Doctor,"  said  Brashear,  "this  is  not  the  way  for  gentlemen  to 
settle  their  difficulties.  As  soon  as  I  can  bind  up  my  head,  which  you 
have  battered  pretty  severely,  I  shall  be  in  the  street  armed.  If  you 
are  as  brave  a  man  as  your  friends  claim  you  to  be,  you  will  meet  me 
there  prepared  to  fight  me  as  a  gentleman." 

"In  forty  minutes  from  this  time,  if  you  please,"  said  his  enemy. 

At  the  appointed  time  and  place  they  met,  each  with  his  friend, 
and  each  armed.  When  they  had  approached  within  ten  paces,  Bra- 
shear  stopped  and  said,  "Are  you  ready?"  Being  answered  in  the 
affirmative,  "  Then  fire,  sir;  I  scorn  to  take  the  first  fire."  Dr.  Tolls 
did  so,  and,  missing  him,  stood  and  received  Brashear's  ball  through 
both  thighs,  and  fell.  There  was  no  surgeon  in  town,  and  the  wounds 
were  bleeding  profusely,  when  Brashear  went  to  him,  and  proposed 
to  dress  the  wounds.  Tolls  stuttered  badly,  and  replied,  "I-I-I'll 
d-d-die  first."  "I  can  do  no  more,"  said  Brashear,  and,  bowing, 
left  the  ground. 

This  chivalry  of  character  characterized  him  in  everything.  Fond 
of  amusement,  he  indulged  himself  in  hunting  and  innocent  sports, 
when  and  where  he  was  always  the  life  of  the  party.  Energetic*  and 
restless  in  his  nature,  he  could  not  bear  confinement,  and,  when  a 
member  of  the  Legislature,  he  was  more  frequently  to  be  found  walk- 
ing rapidly  to  and  fro  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  than  in  his  seat.  To 
sit  still  and  do  nothing  was  impossible  to  him.  A  hundred  anec- 
dotes might  be  related  of  him,  all  illustrative  of  his  lofty  courage,  and 
daring,  and  his  utter  contempt  of  danger.  A  noble  and  generous 
spirit  was  ever  manifested  by  him,  in  every  relation  of  life.  His 
frankness  and  liberal  hospitality,  his  kindness  to  his  slaves,  and  his 
generosity  to  the  poor,  endeared  him  to  his  neighbors,  who  live  to 
feel  that  his  void  can  never  be  filled. 


FIFTY     YEARS.  465 

CHAPTER    XXXII. 

GRADUAL  EXTINCTION  OF  THE  RED  MAN. 

LINE  CREEK  FIFTY  YEARS  AGO— HOPOTHLAYOHOLA— MC!NTOSH  —  UNDYING 
HATRED  —  A  BIG  Powwow  —  MASSACRE  OF  THE  MC!NTOSHES  —  NEHE- 
MATHLA  — ONCHEES  — THE  LAST  OF  THE  RACE  — A  BRAVE  WARRIOR  —  A 
WHITE  MAN'S  FRIENDSHIP  —  THE  DEATH-SONG— TUSKEGA,  OR  JIM'S  BOY. 

I  HAVE  been  to-day,  the  23d  of  August,  over  the  same  spot  I  wan- 
dered over  this  day  fifty  years  ago.  What  changes  have  super- 
vened it  is  difficult  to  realize.  This  was  then  a  dense,  unsettled  wil- 
derness. The  wild  deer  was  on  every  hill,  in  every  valley.  Limpid 
streams  purled  rippling  and  gladly  along  pebbly  beds,  and  fell  bab- 
bling over  great  rocks.  These  alone  disturbed  the  profound  silence, 
where  solitude  brooded,  and  quiet  was  at  home.  These  wild  forests  ex- 
tended west  to  Line  Creek,  then  the  dividing  line  between  the  Indian 
possessions  and  the  newly  acquired  territory  now  constituting  the 
State  of  Alabama.  Upon  this -territory  of  untamed  wilderness  there 
wandered  then  fifty  thousand  Indians,  the  remnant  of  the  mighty 
nation  of  Muscogees,  who  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago  welcomed 
the  white  man  at  Yamacrow,  now  Savannah,  and  tendered  him  a  home 
in  the  New  World.  Fifty  years  ago  he  had  progressed  to  the  banks 
of  the  Ocmulgee,  driving  before  him  the  aboriginal  inhabitant,  and 
appropriating  his  domains.  Here  for  a  time  his  march  was  stayed. 
But  the  Indian  had  gone  forward  to  meet  the  white  man  coming 
from  the  Mississippi  to  surround  him,  the  more  surely  to  effect  his 
ultimate  destruction  and  give  his  home  and  acres  to  the  enterprise 
and  capacity  of  the  white  man. 

Wandering  through  these  wilds  fifty  years  ago,  I  did  not  deem  this 
end  would  be  so  soon  accomplished.  Here  now  is  the  city  and  the 
village,  the  farm-house  and  extended  fields,  the  railroads  and  high- 
ways, and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  busy  men  who  had  not  then  a 
being.  The  appurtenances  of  civilization  everywhere  greet  you : 
many  of  these  are  worn  and  mossed  over  with  the  lapse  of  time  and 
appear  tired  of  the  weight  of  wasting  years.  The  red  men,  away  in 
the  West,  have  dwindled  to  a  mere  handful,  still  flying  before  the 
white  man,  and  shrinking  away  from  his  hated  civilfzation. 

2E 


466  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

Is  this  cmel  and  sinful  —  or  the  silent,  mysterious  operation  of  the 
laws  of  nature  ?  One  people  succeeds  another,  as  day  comes  after 
day,  and  years  follow  years.  Upon  this  continent  the  Indian  found 
the  evidences  in  abundance  of  a  preceding  people,  the  monuments 
of  whose  existence  he  disregards,  but  which,  in  the  earth-mounds 
rising  up  over  all  the  land,  arrest  the  white  man's  attention  and 
wonder.  He  inquires  of  the  Indian  inhabitant  he  is  expelling  from 
the  country,  Who  was  the  architect  of  these,  and  what  their  sig- 
nification? and  is  answered:  We  have  no  tradition  which  tells; 
our  people  found  them  when  they  came,  as  you  find  them  to-day. 
These  traditions  give  the  history  of  the  nations  now  here,-  and  we 
find  in  every  Southern  tribe  that  they  tell  of  an  immigration  from 
the  southwest. 

The  Muscogee,  Natchez,  Choctaw,  and  Chickasaw,  all  have  the 
history  of  their  flying  from  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  from  the 
persecutions  of  superior  and  more  warlike  nations,  and  resting  here 
for  security,  where  they  found  none  to  molest  them,  and  only  these 
dumb  evidences  of  another  people,  who  once  filled  the  land,  but  had 
passed  away. 

When  the  white  man  came,  he  found  but  one  race  upon  the  two 
continents.  Their  type  was  the  same  and  universal,  and  only  these 
mounds  to  witness  of  a  former  race.  Ethnology  has  discovered  no 
other.  All  the  remains  of  man  indicate  the  same  type,  and  there 
remains  not  a  fossil  to  record  the  existence  of  those  who  reared  these 
earth-books,  which  speak  so  eloquently  of  a  race  passed  away. 

How  rapidly  the  work  of  demolition  goes  on  !  Will  a  century 
hence  find  one  of  the  red  race  upon  this  continent?  Certainly  not, 
if  it  shall  accomplish  so  much  as  the  century  past.  There  is  not  one 
for  every  ten,  then ;  and  the  tenth  remaining  are  now  surrounded  on 
all  sides,  and,  being  pushed  to  the  centre,  must  perish. 

They  are  by  nature  incapable  of  that  civilization  which  would 
enable  them  to  organize  governments  and  teach  the  science  of  agri- 
culture. They  were  formed  for  the  woods,  and  physically  organized 
to  live  on  flesh.  The  animals  furnishing  this  were  placed  with 
them  here,  and  the  only  vegetable  found  with  them  was  the  maize, 
or  Indian  corn.  The  white  man  was  organized  to  feed  on  vegeta- 
bles, and  they  were  placed  with  him  in  his  centre  of  creation,  and 
he  brought  them  here,  and  with  himself  acclimated  them,  as  a  neces- 
sity to  his  existence  in  America, 


FIFTY     YEARS.  ,5- 

receiving  or  commanding  none  of  its  results,  he  will  wilt  and  die 
Here   on  the  very  spot  where  I  am  writing,  is  evidence  in  abun 
dance  of  the  facts  here  stated.     Every  effort  to  civilize  and  make  the" 
nomadic  Indian  a  cultivator  of  the  earth-here  has  been  tried   and 
my  memory.     M.ssionary  establishments  were  here,  schools, 
churchy  fields,  implements,  example  and  its  blessings,  all  without 
ct.    Nothing  now  remains  to  tell  of  these  efforts  but  a  few  misera- 
HM;  nothing  in  any  change  of  character  or  condition  of  the 
•an.     And  here,  where  fifty  years  ago,  with  me,  he  hunted  the 
red  deer  and  wild  turkey  for  the  meat  of  his  family  and  the  clothing 
f  himself  and  offspring -to -day  he  would  be  a  curiosity,  and  one 
never  seen  by  half  the  population  which  appropriates  and  cultivates 
Ml  over  which  he  wandered  in  the  chase.     His  beautiful  woods 
ie ;  the  green  corn  grows  where  the  green  trees  grew,  and  the 
;d  and  torn  face  of  his  mother  earth  muddies  to  disgust,  with  her 
day-freighted  tears,  the  limpid  streams  by  which  he  sat  down  to  rest, 
rom  which  he  drank  to  quench  his  thirst  from  weariness  earned 
his  hunt  for  wild  game,  which  grew  with  him,  and  grew  for  him, 
is  nature's  provision.      The  deer  and  the  Indian  are  gone.      The 
lurch-steeple  points  to  heaven  where  the  wigwam  stood,  and  the 
nart  of  commerce  covers  over  all  the  space  where  the  camp-fires 
burned.      The  quarrels  of  Hopothlayohola  and  Mclntosh  are  his- 
tory now,  and  the  great  tragedy  of  its  conclusion  in  the  death  of 
Mclntosh  is  now  scarcely  remembered. 

True  to  his  hatred  of  the  Georgians,  Hopothlayohola,  in  the  recent 
war,  away  beyond  the  Mississippi,  arrayed  his  warriors  in  hostility  to 
the  Confederacy,  and,  when  numbering  nearly  one  hundred  winters, 
led  them  to  battle  in  Arkansas,  against  the  name  of  his  hereditary 
foe,  and  hereditary  hate  —  Mclntosh ;  and  by  that  officer,  com- 
manding the  Confederate  troops,  was  defeated,  and  his  followers 
dispersed.  Since  that  time,  nothing  has  been  known  of  the  fate  of 
the  old  warrior-chief. 

It  had  been  agreed  between  the  United  States  and  Georgia,  and 


468  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

the  famous  Yazoo  Company,  in  order  to  settle  the  difficulties  between 
the  two  latter,  that  the  United  States  should  purchase,  at  a  proper 
time,  from  the  Indian  proprietors,  all  the  lands  east  of  the  Chatta- 
hoochee  and  a  line  running  from  the  west  bank  of  that  stream, 
starting  at  a  place  known  as  West  Point,  and  terminating  at  what  is 
known  as  Nickey  Jack,  on  the  Tennessee  River.  The  increase  of 
population,  and  the  constant  difficulties  growing  out  of  the  too  close 
neighborhood  of  the  Indians,  induced  the  completion  of  this  agree- 
ment. Commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  Government  were  appointed 
to  meet  commissioners  or  delegations  from  the  Indians,  to  treat  for 
the  sale  of  their  lands  within  the  limits  of  the  State  of  Georgia. 
Mclntosh  favored  the  salej  Hopothlayohola  opposed  it.  As  a  chief, 
Mclntosh  was  second  to  his  great  antagonist  in  authority,  and,  in 
truth,  to  several  other  chiefs.  But  he  was  a  bold  man,  with  strong 
will,  fearless  and  aggressive,  and  he  assumed  the  power  to  sell.  In 
the  war  of  1812-15,  he  had  sided  with  the  Americans,  Hopothlayo- 
hola with  the  English ;  and  leading  at  least  half  the  tribe,  Mclntosh 
felt  himself  able  to  sustain  his  authority.  The  commissioners  met 
the  Indian  delegation  at  the  Indian  Springs,  where  negotiations  were 
commenced  by  a  proposition  placed  before  the  chiefs,  and  some 
days  given  for  their  consideration  of  it.  Their  talks  or  consulta- 
tions among  themselves  were  protracted  and  angry,  and  inconclusive. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  induce  Hopothlayohola  to  accede  to  the 
proposition  of  Mclntosh.  The  whites  united  in  their  efforts  to  win 
his  consent  to  sell :  persuasions,  threats,  and  finally  large  bribes  were 
offered,  but  all  availed  nothing.  Thus  distracted  and  divided,  they 
consumed  the  time  for  consultation,  and  met  the  white  commissioners 
to  renew  the  strife,  in  open  council  with  these.  Each  chief  was  fol- 
lowed to  this  council  by  the  members  of  his  band,  sub-chiefs,  and 
warriors.  Mclntosh  announced  his  readiness  to  sell,  and  sustained 
his  position  with  reasons  which  demonstrated  him  a  statesman,  and 
wise  beyond  his  people. 

"  Here  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  whites,"  he  said,  "we  are  sub- 
ject to  continual  annoyance  and  wrong.  These  have  continued  long, 
and  they  have  dwarfed  our  mighty  nation  to  a  tribe  or  two,  and  our 
home  to  one-tenth  of  its  original  dimensions.  This  must  go  on  if  we 
remain  in  this  proximity,  until  we  shall  be  lost,  and  there  will  be 
none  to  preserve  our  traditions.  Let  us  sell  our  lands,  and  go  to  the 
proffered  home  beyond  the  Great  River.  Our  young  men  have  been 


FIFTY     YEARS.  469 

there :  they  have  seen  it,  and  they  say  it  is  good.  ,  The  game  is 
abundant;  the  lands  are  broad,  and  there  is  no  sickness  there." 
Turning  to  Hopothlayohola,  who  stood,  with  dignified  and  proud 
defiance  in  his  manner,  listening,  he  proceeded:  "Will  you  go  and 
live  with  your  people  increasing  and  happy  about  you:  or  will  you 
stay  and  die  with  them  here,  and  leave  no  one  to  follow  you,  or  come 
to  your  grave,  and  weep  over  their  great  chief?  Beyond  the  Great 
River  the  sun  is  as  bright,  and  the  sky  is  as  blue,  and  the  waters  are 
as  clear  and  as  sweet  as  they  are  here.  Our  people  will  go  with  us. 
We  will  be  one,  and  where  we  are  altogether,  there  is  home.  To 
love  the  ground  is  mean ;  to  love  our  people  is  noble.  We  will  cling 
to  them  —  we  will  do  for  their  good;  and  the  ground  where  they  are 
will  be  as  dear  to  us  as  this,  because  they  will  be  upon  it,  and  with  us. 
"  The  white  man  is  growing.  He  wants  our  lands.  He  will  buy 
them  now.  By  and  by  he  will  take  them,  and  the  little  band  of  our 
people  left  will  wander  without  homes,  poor  and  despised,  and  be 
beaten  like  dogs.  We  must  go  to  a  new  home,  and  learn  like  the 
white  man  to 'till  the  earth,  grow  cattle,  and  depend  on  these  for 
food  and  life.  Nohow  else  can  many  people  live  on  the  earth. 
This  makes  the  white  man  like  the  leaves ;  the  want  of  it  makes  the 
red  men  weak  and  few.  Let  us  learn  how  to  make  books,  how  to 
make  ploughs,  and  how  to  cultivate  the  ground,  as  the  white  man 
does,  and  we  will  grow  again,  and  again  become  a  great  people. 
We  will  unite  with  the  Cherokee,  the  Choctaw,  and  the  Seminole, 
and  be  one  people.  The  Great  Spirit  made  us  one  people.  Yes, 
we  are  all  the  children  of  one  family :  «we  are  the  red  men  of  the 
Great  Spirit,  and  should  be  one  people  for  strength  and  protection. 
We  shall  have  schools  for  our  children.  Each  tribe  shall  have  its 
council,  and  all  shall  unite  in  great  council.  They  will  be  wise 
through  learning  as  the  white  man  is,  and  we  shall  become  a  great 
State,  and  send  our  chiefs  to  Congress  as  the  white  man  does.  We 
shall  all  read,  and  thus  talk,  as  the  white  man  does,  with  the  mighty 
dead  who  live  in  books ;  and  write  and  make  books  that  our  chil- 
dren's children  shall  read  and  talk  with,  and  learn  the  counsels  of 
their  great  fathers  in  the  spirit-land.  This  it  is  which  makes  the 
white  man  increase  and  spread  over  the  land.  In  our  new  home  he 
promises  to  protect  us  —  to  send  us  schools  and  books,  and  teach  our 
children  to  know  them  ;  and  he  will  send  us  ploughs,  and  men  to 
make  them,  and  to  teach  our  young  men  how  to  make  them. 
40 


470  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

"  The  plough  will  make  us  corn  for  bread,  for  the  strength  of  the 
body ;  the  books  will  be  food  for  the  head,  to  make  us  wise  and 
strong  in  council.  Let  us  sell  and  go  away,  and  if  we  suffer  for  a 
time,  it  will  be  better  for  our  children.  You  see  it  so  with  the  white 
man ;  shall  we  not  learn  from  him,  and  be  like  him?" 

When  he  had  concluded  his  talk,  it  was  greeted  in  their  own 
peculiar  manner  by  his  followers  as  good.  Hopothlayohola,  the 
great  red  chief,  turning  from  Mclntosh  as  if  disdaining  him,  address- 
ed the  commissioners  of  the  Government : 

"  Our  great  father,  your  head  chief  at  Washington,  sent  us  a  talk 
by  you,  which  is  pleasant  to  hear,  because  it  promises  the  red  man 
much  —  his  friendship,  his  protection,  and  his  help;  but  in  return  for 
this  he  asks  of  us  much  more  than  we  are  willing  to  give  even  for  all 
his  promises.  The  white  man's  promises,  like  him,  are  white,  and 
bring  hope  to  the  red  man ;  but  they  always  end  in  darkness  and 
death  to  him. 

"  The  Great  Spirit  has  not  given  to  the  red  man,  as  He  has  to  the 
white  man,  the  power  to  look  into  the  dark,  and  see  what  to-morrow 
has  in  its  hand ;  but  He  has  given  him  the  sense  to  know  what  expe- 
rience teaches  him.  Look  around,  and  remember!  Away  when 
time  was  young,  all  this  broad  land  was  the  red  man's,  and  there 
was  none  to  make  him  afraid.  The  woods  were  wide  and  wild,  and 
the  red  deer,  and  the  bear,  and  the  wild  turkey  were  everywhere, 
and  all  were  his.  He  was  great,  and,  with  abundance,  was  happy. 
From  the  salt  sea  to  the  Great  River  the  land  was  his:  the  Great 
Spirit  had  given  it  to  him.  He  made  the  woods  for  the  red  man, 
the  deer,  the  bear,  and  the  turkey ;  and  for  these  He  made  the  red 
man.  He  made  the  white  man  for  the  fields,  and  taught  him  how 
to  make  ploughs,  to  have  cattle  and  horses,  and  how  to  make  books, 
because  the  white  man  needed  these.  He  did  not  make  these  a 
necessity  to  the  red  man. 

"  Away  beyond  the  mighty  waters  of  the  dreary  sea,  He  gave  the 
white  man  a  home,  with  everything  he  wanted,  and  He  gave  him  a 
mind  which  was  for  him,  and  only  him.  The  red  man  is  satisfied 
with  the  gifts  to  him  of  the  Great  Spirit ;  and  he  did  not  know  there 
was  a  white  man  who  had  other  gifts  for  his  different  nature,  until  he 
came  in  his  winged  canoes  across  the  great  water,  and  our  fathers 
met  him  at  Yamacrow.  The  Great  Spirit  gave  him  a  country,  and 
He  gave  the  red  man  a  country.  Why  did  he  leave  his  own  and 


FIFTY    YEARS.  471 

come  to  take  the  red  man's?  Did  the  Great  Spirit  tell  him  to  do 
this?  He  gave  him  His  word  in  a  book:  do  you  find  it  there? 
Then  read  it  for  us,  that  we  may  hear.  If  He  did,  then  He  is  not. 
just.  We  see  Him  in  the  sun,  and  moon,  and  stars.  We  hear  Him 
in  the  thunder,  and  feel  Him  in  the  mighty  winds;  but  He  made 
10  book  for  the  red  man  to  tell  Him  his  will,  but  we  see  in  all  His 
works  justice.  The  sun,  and  the  moon,  and  the  stars,  and  the  ground 
keep  their  places,  and  never  leave  them  to  crowd  upon  one  another. 
They  stay  where  He  placed  them,  and  come  not  to  trouble  or  to  take 
from  one  another  what  He  had  given.  Only  the  white  man  does 
this.  A  few  —  a  little  handful  —  came  in  their  canoe  to  the  land  of 
the  red  man,  as  spirits  come  out  of  the  water.  The  red  man  gave 
them  his  hand.  He  gave  them  meat,  and  corn,  and  a  home,  and 
welcomed  them  to  come  and  live  with  him.  And  the  flying  canoes 
came  again  and  again,  and  many  came  in  them,  and  at  last  they 
brought  their  great  chief,  with  his  long  knife  by  his  side,  and  his  red 
coat,  and  he  asked  for  more  land.  Our  chiefs  and  warriors  met  him, 
and  sold  him  another  portion  of  our  lands ;  and  his  white  squaws 
came  with  him,  and  they  made  houses  and  homes  near  our  people. 
They  made  fields,  and  had  horses  and  herds,  and  grew  faster  than  our 
people,  and  drove  away  the  deer  and  the  turkeys  deeper  into  the 
woods.  And  then  they  wanted  more  land,  and  our  chiefs  and  war- 
riors sold  them  more  land,  and  now  again  another  piece,  until  now 
we  have  but  a  little  of  our  all.  And  you  come  again  with  the  same 
story  on  your  forked  tongues,  and  wish  to  buy  the  last  we  have  of 
all  we  had,  and  offer  us  a  home  away  beyond  the  Great  River,  and 
money,  and  .tell  us  we  shall  there  have  a  home  forever,  free  from  the 
white  man's  claims,  and  in  which  we  shall  dwell  in  peace,  with  no 
one  to  make  us  afraid. 

"  Our  traditions  tell  us  that  our  fathers  fled  before  the  powerful  red 
men  who  dwell  beyond  the  Great  River,  and  who  robbed  us  of  our 
homes  and  made  them  their  own,  as  you,  the  white  men,  have  done. 
Have  you  bought  the  home  of  our  fathers  from  these  red  men  ?  or 
have  you  taken  it  ?  that  you  bid  us  take  it  from  you,  and  go  back, 
and  make  a  new  home  where  the  fathers  of  our  fathers  sleep  in  death? 
If  you  have  not,  will  they  not  hunt  us  away  again,  as  you  have  ?  How 
shall  we  know  you  will  not  come  and  make  us  sell  to  you,  for  the 
white  man,  the  homes  you  promise  shall  always  be  ours  and  a  home 
for  our  children's  children? 


472  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

'*  We  love  the  land  where  we  were  born  and  where  we  have  buried 
our  fathers  and  our  kindred.  It  is  the  Great  Spirit  which  teaches  us 
to  love  the  land,  the  wigwam,  the  stream,  the  trees  where  we  hunted 
and  played  from  our  childhood,  where  we  have  buried  out  of  sight 
our  ancestors  for  generations.  Who  says  it  is  mean  to  love  the  land, 
to  keep  in  our  hearts  these  graves,  as  we  keep  the  Great  Spirit  ?  It  is 
noble  to  love  the  land,  where  the  corn  grows,  and  which  was  given  to 
us  by  the  Great  Spirit.  We  will  sell  no  more ;  we  know  we  are  passing 
away;  the  leaves  fall  from  the  trees,  and  we  fall  like  these  ;  some  will 
stay  to  be  the  last.  The  snow  melts  from  the  hills,  but  there  is  some 
left  for  the  last ;  we  are  left  for  the  last,  like  the  withered  leaf  and  little 
spot  of  snaw.  Leave  to  us  the  little  we  have,  let  us  die  where  our 
fathers  have  died,  and  let  us  sleep  where  our  kindred  sleep ;  and  when 
the  last  is  gone,  then  take  our  lands,  and  with  your  plough  tear  up 
the  mould  upon  our  graves,  and  plant  your  corn  above  us.  There 
will  be  none  to  weep  at  the  deed,  none  to  tell  the  traditions  of  our 
people,  or  sing  the  death-song  above  their  graves  —  none  to  listen  to 
the  wrongs  and  oppressions  the  red  man  bore  from  his  white  brother, 
who  came  from  the  home  the  Great  Spirit  gave  him,  to  take  from  the 
red  man  the  home  the  Great  Spirit  gave  him.  We  are  few  and  weak, 
you  are  many  and  strong,  and  you  can  kill  us  and  take  our  homes  ; 
but  the  Great  Spirit  has  given  us  courage  to  fight  for  our  homes,  if  we 
may  not  live  in  them — and  we  will  do  it  —  and  this  is  our  talk,  our 
last  talk." 

He  folded  back  the  blanket  he  had  thrown  from  his  shoulders,  and, 
followed  by  his  band,  he  stalked  majestically  away.  They  had  broken 
up  their  camp  and  returned  to  their  homes  upon  the  Tallapoosa. 

Unawed  by  the  defection  of  the  Tuscahatchees,  the  band  attached 
to  Hopothlayohola,  Mclntosh  went  on  to  complete  the  treaty.  This 
chief,  because  he  had  been  the  friend  of  the  United  States  in  the  then 
recent  war,  assumed  to  be  the  principal  chief  of  the  nation,  as  he 
held  the  commission  of  a  brigadier-general  from  the  United  States; 
a  commission,  however,  which  only  gave  him  command  with  his  own 
people.  This  assumption  was  denied  by  Hopothlayohola,  chief  of 
the  Tuscahatchees,  Tuskega,  and  other  chiefs  of  the  nation,  who 
insisted  upon  the  ancient  usages,  and  the  power  attaching  through 
these  to  the  recognized  head-chief  of  the  nation.  Strong  representa- 
tions and  protests  against  the  treaty  were  sent  to  Washington,  and 
serious  complications  were  threatened,  very  nearly  producing  colli- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  473 

sion  between  the  State  of  Georgia  and  the  General  Government.  The 
hostility  to  Mclntosh  and  his  party  culminated  in  a  conspiracy  for  his 
assassination.  Fifty  warriors  were  selected,  headed  by  a  chief  for  the 
purpose.  These  received  their  orders,  which  were.,  that  on  a  day 
designated  they  should  concentrate  at  a  given  spot,  and  at  night  pro- 
ceed to  the  house  of  Mclntosh,  in  secret,  and  surrounding  it  at  or 
near  daylight,  call  him  up,  and  as  he  came  forth,  all  were  to  fire 
upon  him.  His  brother,  his  son,  and  son-in-law,  Rolla  and  Chillie 
Mclntosh,  and  Hawkins,  were  all  doomed  to  die,  and  by  the  hands 
of  this  executory  band.  That  there  might  be  no  mistake  as  to  the 
day,  each  warrior  was  furnished  with  a  bundle  of  sticks  of  wood, 
each  of  these  represented  a  day — the  whole,  the  number  of  days  in- 
tervening between  the  time  of  receiving  them,  and  the  day  of  execu- 
tion. Every  night  upon  the  going  down  of  the  sun  one  of  these  was 
to  be  thrown  away — the  last  one,  on  the  night  of  concentration  and 
assassination.  It  was  death  to  betray  the  trust  reposed,  or  to  be 
absent  from  the  point  of  rendezvous  at  the  time  appointed. 

The  secret  was  faithfully  kept — every  one  was  present.  The  house 
of  Mclntosh  stood  immediately  upon  the  bank  of  the  Chattahoochee 
River,  at  the  point  or  place  now  known  as  Mclntosh's  Reserve.  It 
was  approached  and  surrounded  under  the  cover  of  night,  and  so 
stealthily  as  to  give  no  warning  even  to  the  watch-dogs.  Mclntosh 
and  his  son  Chillie  were  the  only  victims  in  the  house,  the  two  others 
were  away.  Hawkins  was  at  his  own  home,  Rolla  Mclntosh  no  one 
knew  where.  Hopothlayohola  had  accompanied  this  band,  but  not 
in  the  character  of  chief.  The  command  was  delegated  to  another. 
This  chief  knocked  at  the  door,  and  commanded  Mclntosh  to  come 
out  and  meet  his  doom.  The  Reverend  Francis  Flornoy,  a  Baptist 
preacher,  was  spending  the  night  with  the  chief,  and  was  in  a  room 
with  Chillie.  The  chief  Mclntosh  knew  his  fate,  and,  repairing  to  the 
apartment  of  his  guest  and  son,  told  them  he  was  about  to  die,  and 
directing  his  son  to  escape  from  the  rear  of  the  house,  and  across  the 
river,  said  he  would  meet  his  fate  as  a  warrior.  Taking  his  rifle,  he 
went  to  the  front  door,  and  throwing  it  open,  fired  upon  the  array 
of  warriors  as  he  gave  the  war-whoop,  and,  in  an  instant  after,  fell 
dead,  pierced  with  twenty  balls.  Chillie,  at  this  moment,  sprang 
from  the  window,  leaped  into  the  river,  and  made  his  escape,  though 
fired  at  repeatedly.  A  detachment  was  immediately  sent  to  execute 
Hawkins  at  his  home,  which  was  successful  in  effecting  it. 
40* 


474  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

Soon  after  this  tragic  occurrence,  the  Mclntosh  party,  consisting  of 
fully  one-half  the  nation,  emigrated  to  the  lands  granted  them  west 
of  the  State  of  Arkansas,  and  made  there  a  home.  The  remainder 
of  the  Creeks  retired  to  the  district  of  country  between  the  Chattahoo- 
chee  and  Line  Creek,  only  to  learn  that  to  remain  upon  this  circum 
scribed  territory  was  certain  destruction. 

The  whites  soon  populated  the  acquired  territory,  and  the  Chatta- 
hoochee  was  no  barrier  to  their  aggressions  upon  the  helpless  Indian 
beyond.  Feuds  grew  up  :  this  led  to  killings,  and  in  the  winter  of 
1835-6  active  hostilities  commenced.  This  war  was  of  short  dura- 
tion. Before  the  nation  was  divided,  Hopothlayohola  was  opposed 
to  war.  In  his  communication  with  General  Jessup,  he  told  him  : 
"My  strength  is  gone;  my  warriors  are  few,  and  I  am  opposed  to 
war.  But  had  I  the  men,  I  would  fight  you.  I  am  your  enemy — I 
shall  ever  be ;  but  to  fight  you  would  only  be  the  destruction  of  my 
people.  We  are  in  your  power,  and  you  can  do  with  us  as  you  will." 
But  the  chiefs  of  the  lower  towns  would  not  yield,  and  made  the 
fight.  In  a  short  time  this  was  concluded  by  the  capture  of  their 
leading  chief,  Nehemathla.  He  was  decoyed  by  treachery  into  the 
power  of  General  Jessup,  who  detained  him  as  a  prisoner,  and 
almost  immediately  his  band  surrendered. 

Nehemathla  was  an  Onchee  chief.  This  was  the  remnant  of  a 
tribe  absorbed  into  the  nation  of  the  Creeks  or  Muscogees,  and  was 
probably  one  of  those  inferior  bands  inhabiting  the  land  when  this 
nation  came  from  the  West  and  took  possession  of  the  country. 
Their  language  they  preserved,  and  it  is  remarkable  it  was  never 
acquired  by  white  or  red  man,  unless  he  was  reared  from  infancy 
among  the  tribe.  It  was  guttural  entirely,  and  spoken  with  the 
mouth  open,  and  no  word  or  sound  ever  required  it  to  be  closed  for 
its  pronunciation.  They  had  dwindled  to  a  handful  at  the  time  of 
his  capture,  but  more  obstinately  determined  to  remain  and  die  upon 
their  parental  domain,  than  any  other  portion  of  the  nation. 

Nehemathla  was  more  than  eighty  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his 
capture.  When  brought  into  the  presence  of  General  Jessup,  he  ex- 
pected nothing  short  of  death.  The  General  told  him  of  his  crimes, 
upbraided  him  with  bad  faith  to  his  great  father,  General  Jackson, 
and  drawing  his  sword,  told  him  he  deserved  to  die. 

The  chief,  seeing  the  sword  lifted,  snatched  the  turban  from  his 
head,  and  fiercely  and  defiantly  looking  the  General  in  the  face, 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


475 


the  wind  waved  about  his  brow  and  head  the  long  locks  white  as 
snow,  said  firmly  and  aloud :  "  Strike,  and  let  me  sleep  here  with 
my  father  and  my  children !  Strike,  I  am  the  last  of  my  race  !  The 
Great  Spirit  gave  me  seven  sons  —  three  of  them  died  at  Emucfaw, 
two  at  Talladega,  and  two  at  Aletosee.  General  Jackson  killed  them 
all,  and  you  call  him  my  great  father !  When  did  a  father  wash  his 
hands  in  his  children's  blood  ?  When  did  a  father  rob  his  children 
of  their  homes  ?  When  did  a  father  drive  his  children  in  anger  into 
the  wilderness,  where  they  will  find  an  enemy  who  claim  it  as  the 
gift  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  who  will  fight  to  retain  it  ?  Strike,  and 
let  me  die  —  no  time,  no  place  like  this  !  The  mother  of  my  sons, 
their  sisters,  perished  for  food,  when  I  with  my  sons  was  fighting  for 
our  homes.  I  am  alone,  and  not  afraid  to  die  !  Strike :  eighty  winters 
are  on  my  head  — they  are  heavier  than  your  sword  !  They  weigh  me 
to  the  earth  !  Strike,  and  let  me  go  to  my  squaw,  my  sons,  and  my 
daughters,  and  let  me  forget  my  wrongs  !  Strike,  and  let  my  grave 
be  here,  where  all  I  have  is  in  the  ground  !  Strike :  I  would  sleep 
where  I  was  born  —  all  around  me  are  the  graves  of  my  people, 
let  mine  be  among  them ;  and  when  the  Great  Spirit  shall  come,  let 
Him  find  us  all  together,  here  with  our  fathers  of  a  thousand  winters, 
who  first  built  their  wigwams  here,  and  who  first  taught  their  children 
to  be  more  cautious  than  the  panther  —  more  watchful  than  the 
turkey !" 

"  I  will  not  strike  you,"  said  the  General.  "  No,  I  will  not  strike 
my  foe,  a  prisoner;  but  here  is  my  hand  in  friendship." 

"No,"  said  the  chief;  "you  have  put  your  sword  in  its  pocket, 
put  your  hand  in  its  pocket ;  do  not  let  it  reach  out  to  blind  me,  or 
to  take  my  home.  I  am  the  white  man's  enemy;  his  friendship  I  fear 
more  than  his  anger.  It  is  more  fatal  to  the  red  man.  It  takes  away 
his  home,  and  forces  him  living  to  go  away  and  grieve  for  his 
country,  and  the  graves  of  his  fathers,  and  to  starve  in  a  strange  land. 
In  his  anger  he  kills,  and  its  mercy  shuts  his  eyes  and  his  heart  away 
from  the  wrongs  and  the  miseries  of  his  people.  I  have  lived  and 
I  will  die  the  white  man's  enemy.  I  have  done  you  all  the  harm  in 
my  power.  If  I  could,  I  would  do  you  more.  My  tongue  is  not 
forked  like  yours,  my  heart  has  no  lies  to  make  it  speak  to  deceive. 
Strike,  and  let  me  go  to  the  happy  hunting-grounds  where  all  my 
people  are." 


4/6  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

He  sat  down  upon  the  ground,  and,  in  a  low,  monotonous,  melan 
choly  tone,  chanted  the  death-song. 

"  Who-ah-who-allee  !  wait  for  me,  I  am  coming.  Who-ah-who- 
allee !  prepare  the  feast,  the  great  warrior's  feast.  Who-ah-who- 
allee  !  let  my  boys  and  my  braves  come  down  to  welcome  me. 
Who-ah-who-allee  !  those  who  went  before  me,  tell  them  the  old 
warrior  is  coming.  Who-ah-who-allee  !  the  white  man  has  come,  he ' 
treads  on  their  graves,  and  the  graves  of  their  fathers.  Who-ah- 
who-allee  !  the  last  of  the  Onchee  is  coming,  prepare — his  bow  is 
broken,  his  arrows  are  all  gone.  Who-ah-who  allee !  "  Concluding 
his  song  with  one  shrill  whoop,  he  dropped  his  head  and  lifted  up 
his  hands  —  then  prone  upon  the  earth  he  threw  himself,  kissed  it, 
rose  up,  and  seemed  prepared  for  the  fate  he  surely  expected. 

Nehemathla  spoke  English  fluently,  and  all  his  conversation  was  in 
that  language.  He  was  informed  that  there  was  no  intention  of  tak- 
ing his  life,  but  that  he  would  be  kept  a  close  prisoner,  until  his  peo- 
ple could  be  conquered  and  collected — when  they  would  be  sent  to 
join  their  brethren,  who  had  gone  with  the  Cussetas  and  Cowetas  and 
Broken  Arrows,  beyond  the  Great  River  of  the  West.  Tamely  and 
sullenly  he  submitted  to  his  confinement,  until  the  period  approached, 
when  all  were  collected  and  in  detachments  forwarded  to  their  future 
homes. 

It  was  my  fortune  to  be  in  New  Orleans  when  the  old  chief  and 
his  little  band  arrived  at  that  place.  It  was  winter,  and  the  day  of 
their  debarkation  was  cold  and  rainy.  The  steamer  chartered  to 
take  them  to  Fort  Smith,  upon  the  Arkansas,  from  some  cause  did 
not  arrive  at  the  levee  at  the  time  appointed  for  their  leaving,  and 
they,  with  their  women  and  children,  were  exposed  upon  the  levee  to 
all  the  inclemencies  of  rain  and  cold,  through  a  protracted  winter 
night.  Many  propositions  were  made  to  give  them  shelter,  which 
were  rejected.  One  warm-hearted,  noble  spirit,  James  D.  Fresett,  the 
proprietor  of  an  extensive  cotton-press,  went  in  person  to  the  aged 
chief,  and  implored  him  to  take  his  people  to  shelter  there.  He 
declined,  and  when  the  importunity  was  again  pressed  upon  him, 
impatient  of  persuasion,  he  turned  abruptly  to  his  tormentor  and 
sternly  said  : 

"I   am   the  enemy  of  the  white   man.    I  ask,  and  will  accept, 
nothing  at  his  hands.    Me  and  my  people  are  children  of  the  we 
The  Great  Spirit  gave  them  to  us,  and  He  gave  us  the  power 


FIFTY     YEARS. 


477 


endure  the  cold  and  the  rain.  The  clouds  above  are  His,  and  they 
;  shelter  and  warmth  enough  for  us.  He  will  not  deceive  and  rob 
us.  The  white  man  is  faithless ;  with  two  tongues  he  speaks :  like  the 
snake,  he  shows  these  before  he  bites.  Never  again  shall  the  white 
man's  house  open  for  me,  or  the  white  man's  roof  shelter  me.  I 
have  lived  his  enemy,  and  his  enemy  I  will  die."  The  grunt  of 
approval  came  from  all  the  tribe,  while  many  rough  and  stalwart 
men  stood  in  mute  admiration  of  the  pride,  the  spirit,  and  the  deter- 
mination of  this  white-haired  patriarch  of  a  perishing  people.  The 
next  day  he  went  away  to  his  new  home,  but  only  to  die.  About 
this  time  a  delegation  from  both  the  Tuscahatchees  or  Hopothlayohola 
band  and  the  Mclntosh  band  met  by  private  arrangement,  in  New 
Orleans,  to  reconcile  all  previous  difficulties  between  these  parties. 
Hopothlayohola  and  Tuskega,  or  Jim's  Boy,  and  Chillie  Mclntosh 
and  Hawkins,  constituted  the  delegations.  I  was  present  at  the  City 
Hotel,  and  witnessed  the  meeting.  It  was  in  silence.  Mclntosh  and 
Hopothlayohola  advanced  with  the  right  hand  extended  and  met. 
The  clasping  hands  was  the  signal  for  the  others :  they  met;  clasping 
hands,  and  unity  was  restored,  the  nations  reconciled  and  reunited, 
and  Hopothlayohola  and  his  people  invited  to  come  in  peace  to  their 
new  homes. 

It  was  evidently  a  union  of  policy,  as  there  could  be  no  heart- 
union  between  Mclntosh  and  Hopothlayohola  ;^and  though  the  latter 
placed  his  conduct  upon  the  broad  basis  of  national  law  and  national 
justice,  yet  this  was  inflicted  upon  the  parent  of  the  other,  who  denied 
the  law,  or  the  power  under  the  law,  supposing  it  to  exist,  of  the 
other  to  adjudge  and  to  execute  its  sentence.  In  the  meeting  of 
these  chiefs,  and  their  apparent  reconciliation,  was  to  be  seen  a  desire 
that  the  nation  should  reunite,  and  that  there  should  be  amity  between 
the  bands,  or  divided  parties,  for  the  national  good,  and  for  the  good 
of  all  the  parties  or  people.  But  there  could  never  be  between  the 
two  representative  chiefs  other  than  a  political  reconciliation.  There 
was  no  attempt  on  the  part  of  either  to  deceive  the  other.  Both 
acted  from  the  same  high  motives,  while  their  features  told  the  truth 
—  personally  they  were  enemies.  The  son  held  the  hand  of  his 
father's  executioner,  red  with  the  life-blood  of  him  who  gave  him 
being  —  a  father  he  revered,  and  whose  memory  he  cherished.  The 
filial  and  hereditary  hatred  was  in  his  heart.  The  feeling  was  rtutual. 
Both  knew  it,  and  the  cold,  passive  eye,  and  relaxed,  inexpressive 


478  THE     MEMORIES    OF 

features  but  bespoke  the  subdued,  not  the  extinguished  passion. 
Chillie  Mclntosh  is  only  one-fourth  Indian  in  blood.  Hopothlayo- 
hola  is  a  full-blooded  Indian.  His  features  are  coarse  and  striking. 
His  high  forehead  and  prominent  brow  indicate  intellect,  and  his 
large  compressed  mouth  and  massive  underjaw,  terminating  in  a 
square,  prominent  chin,  show  great  fixity  of  purpose,  and  resolution 
of  will.  Unquestionably  he  was  the  great  man  of  his  tribe. 

Tuskega,  or  Jim's  Boy,  was  a  man  of  herculean  proportions.  He 
was  six  feet  eight  inches  in  height,  and  in  every  way  admirably  pro- 
portioned. He  was  the  putative  son  of  a  chief  whose  name  he  bore, 
and  whose  titles  and  power  he  inherited.  But  the  old  warrior-chief 
never  acknowledged  him  as  such.  The  old  chief  owned  as  a  slave  a 
very  large  mulatto  man,  named  Jim,  who  was  his  confidant  and  chief 
adviser,  and  to  him  he  ascribed  the  parentage  of  his  successor,  and 
always  called  him  Jim's  boy.  His  complexion,  hair,  and  great  size 
but  too  plainly  indicated  his  parentage.  He  was  not  a  man  of  much 
mark,  except  for  his  size,  and  would  probably  never  have  attained 
distinction  but  through  hereditary  right. 

In  their  new  home  these  people  do  not  increase.  The  efforts  at 
civilization  seem  only  to  reach  the  mixed  bloods,  and  these  only  in 
proportion  to  the  white  blood  in  their  veins.  The  Indian  is  incapa- 
ble of  the  white  man's  civilization,  as  indeed  all  other  inferior  races 
are.  He  has  fulfilled  his  destiny,  and  is  passing  away.  No  approxi- 
mation to  the  pursuits  or  the  condition  of  the  white  man  operates 
otherwise  than  as  a  means  of  his  destruction.  It  seems  his  contact 
is  death  to  every  inferior  race,  when  not  servile  and  subjected  to  his 
care  and  control. 


FIFTY    YEARS.  479 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

FUN,    FACT,   AND    FANCY. 

ECGENIUS  NESBITT  — WASHINGTON  POE— YELVERTON  P.  KING— PREPARING  TO 
RECEIVE  THE  COURT  — WALTON  TAVERN,  IN  LEXINGTON  — BILLY  SPRINGER, 
OF  SPARTA  —  FREEMAN  WALKER  — AN  AUGUSTA  LAWYER  — A  GEORGIA 
MAJOR  — MAJOR  WALKER'S  BED  — UNCLE  NED  —  DISCHARGING  A  HOG  ON 
His  OWN  RECOGNIZANCE— MORNING  ADMONITION  AND  EVENING  COUNSEL— 
A  MOTHER'S  REQUEST — INVOCATION— CONCLUSION. 

TO-DAY  I  parted  from  Eugenius  Nesbitt  and  Washington  Poe, 
two  of  only  four  or  five  of  those  who  commenced  life  and  the 
practice  of  law  with  me  in  the  State  of  Georgia.  We  had  just 
learned  of  the  death  of  Y.  P.  King,  of  Greensboro,  Geergia,  who 
was  only  a  few  years  our  senior.  The  four  of  us  were  young  together, 
and  were  friends,  but  I  had  been  separated  from  them  for  more  than 
forty  years.  Yet  the  ties  of  youthful  attachment  remained,  and 
together  we  mourned  the  loss  of  our  compeer  and  companion  in 
youth. 

I  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  when  Judge  Nesbitt,  by  act  of 
the  Legislature,  was  admitted  to  the  Bar,  he  having  not  attained  his 
majority,  and  by  a  rule  could  not  be  admitted  in  the  ordinary  man- 
ner. Nesbitt,  though  so  young,  was  known  through  the  up-country 
of  Georgia  as  a  young  man  of  more  than  ordinary  promise.  The 
same  was  the  case  with  Poe.  They  had  so  deported  themselves  as 
to  win  the  confidence  and  affection  of  the  wise  and  the  good.  There 
were  some  in  the  Legislature  who  were  lawyers,  and  who  conscien- 
tiously believed  that  no  one  so  young  as  Nesbitt  was  could  be  suffi- 
ciently matured  mentally  to  properly  discharge  the  duties  of  the 
profession.  These  men  themselves  were  naturally  dull,  and  igno- 
rantly  supposed  all  minds,  like  their  own,  were  weak  in  youth,  and 
could  only  be  strengthened  and  enlightened  by  time  and  cultivation. 
They  honestly  opposed  the  bill  admitting  the  applicant.  There  was 
one  though,  who  held  no  such  ridiculous  notions  —  himself  an 
example  to  the  contrary  —  but  from  some  cause  he  strenuously 
opposed  the  bill.  It  was  the  celebrated  Seaborne  Jones,  one  of  the 
very  ablest  lawyers  the  State  ever  produced.  It  seemed  ever  a 


480  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

delight  to  him  to  bear  heavily  upon  young  lawyers.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  divine  his  motives.  He  was  at  the  head  of  the  Bar,  unap- 
proached  by  competition,  especially  by  any  young  man. 

I  was  young  and  ardent,  and  felt  offended  at  this  opposition,  and 
gave  all  the  aid  I  could  to  the  passage  of  the  bill.  Fortunately  for 
our  cause,  there  were  many  young  lawyers  in  the  Legislature,  and 
these  were  a  unit,  and  we  succeeded  in  carrying  the  measure.  From 
that  day  Nesbitt  seemed  nearer  to  me  than  any  other  of  the  Bar  in  our 
circuit.  We  have  been  separated  over  forty  years,  he  remaining  in 
his  native  State,  while  I  have  wandered  away  to  the  West.  Still  that 
warmth  of  heart  toward  him  has  never  died  out.  And  now,  when 
both  are  on  the  grave's  brink,  we  meet,  not  to  renew,  but  to  find  the 
old  flame  burning  still.  King,  Nesbitt,  and  myself  were  born  in  the 
same  county,  and  our  ancestors  worshipped  at  the  same  church  — 
Old  Bethany  —  and  to-day  we  recalled  the  fact  as  we  mourned  the 
death  of  our  early  friend  and  compeer  at  the  Bar. 

Time  has  swept  on.  Our  children  are  gray  with  years.  One  by 
one,  all  who  were  at  the  Bar  with  us  are  gone,  save  two  or  three, 
and  to-morrow  we  shall  be  gone.  But  the  oblivious  past  has  not  cur- 
tained from  memory  yet  the  incidents  and  the  men  of  that  past,  and 
while  I  may  I  will  bear  testimony  to  these,  and  to  the  men  who  were 
their  chief  actors.  Nesbitt  justified  in  his  subsequent  life  all  that  his 
friends  and  the  public  hoped  from  him.  In  every  relation  of  life  he 
has  done  his  duty  ably,  honestly,  and  purely.  As  a  member  of  the 
Legislature,  of  Congress,  as  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  as  a 
worthy  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and,  above  all,  as  a 
father,  husband,  and  citizen,  he  has  been  good,  wise,  and  faithful. 
Is  not  his  measure  full  ?  Who  deserves  it  more  ?  We  were  sad 
to-day.  One  said,  "King  is  dead."  "Yes,"  answered  the  other, 
and  we  were  silent.  Memory  was  busy.  We  could  not  talk.  In  his 
office,  where  yet  he  wears  the  harness  of  the  law,  surrounded  by 
musty,  well-thumbed  books,  and  piles  of  papers  with  hard  judicial 
faces,  we  sat  and  mused.  Perhaps  we  thought  of  the  past,  when 
those  to  whom  eternity  is  a  reality  were  with  us  and  joyous.  At  such 
times  the  mind  turns  quickly  back  to  youth's  joys,  nor  lingers  along 
the  vista  of  interven'ng  titnr.  All  of  that  day  will  revive,  but  these 
memories  sadden  the  heart,  and  we  are  fain  to  think,  but  not  to  talk. 
Perhaps  we  wondered  what  were  the  realizations  of  the  dead.  What 
are  they  ?  Who  knows,  except  the  dead  ?  Do  the  dead  know  ? 


FIFTY    YEARS.  481 

Unprofitable  thought!   Faith  and  hope  only  buoy  the  heait,  and 
time  brings  the  end.     Well,  time  has  whitened  our  heads,  but  not 
indurated  our  hearts,  and  time  is  now  as  busy  as  when  in  the  joyous- 
ness  of  youth  we  heeded  not  his  flight,  and  to-morrow  may  bring  us 
to  the  grave.     Ah  !  then  we  shall  know  the  secret,  and  we  will  keep 
it,  as  all  who  have  gone  before.     Oh,  what  a  blessed  hope  is  that 
which  promises  that  we  shall,  forgetful  of  the  cares  and  sorrows  of 
time,  meet  those  whom  death  has  refined,  and  be  happy  as  they  in 
eternity  !     But  the  doubt,  and  then  the  fear !     But  why  the  fear  ? 
We  come  into  time  without  our  knowledge  or  consent,  fulfil  a  des- 
tiny, and  without  our  knowledge  or  consent  die  out  of  time.     This 
is  the  economy  of  man's  life,  and  was  given  him  by  his  Creator. 
Then  why  should  he  fear  ?     If  it  is  wise  for  him  to  be  born,  to  live, 
it  is  surely  wise  that  he  should  die,  since  that  is  equally  a  part  of  his 
economy.     Then  why  fear  ?     Reason  is  satisfied,  but  instinct  fears. 
Yelverton  P.  King  never  removed  from  the  county  of  his  birth, 
nor  abandoned  his  profession,  remaining  upon  the  soil  of  his  nativity 
and  among  those  with  whom  he  had  been  reared,  maintaining  through 
life  the  character  of  an  upright  man.     Many  memories  are  connected 
with  his  name.     When  we  were  young  at  the  Bar,  there  were  as  our 
associates  very  many  who  attained  eminence  as  lawyers,  and  fame  as 
politicians ;  but  these  distinctions  are  not  connected  with  the  endear- 
ing attributes  which  make  them  so  cherished  in  memory  —  the  inci- 
dents of  social  intercourse,  the  favors,  the  kindnesses  of  good  neigh- 
borhood, the  sympathies  of  young  life,  the  unity  of  sentiment,  the 
sameness  of  hopes,  little  regarded  at  the  moment;  but  oh  !  how  they 
were  rooting  in  the  heart,  to  bear,  away  in  the  coming  time,  these 
fruits  of  memory,  in  which  is  the  most  of  happiness  when  age  whitens 
the  head,  and  the  heart  is  mellowed  with  the  sorrows  of  time. 

Though  all  were  affectionate  and  social  in  their  intercourse  with 
each  other,  yet  each  had  his  favorites,  because  of  greater  congeni- 
ality in  nature,  more  intense  sympathies,  and  more  continual  inter- 
course. Little  incidents  were  of  frequent  occurrence  which  drew 
these  continually  closer,  until  friendships  ripened  into  confidences  — 
some  more  special  favorites  of  some,  and  some  more  general  favor- 
ites of  all.  This  latter  was  Y.  P.  King ;  and  yet  this  favoritism  was 
never  very  demonstrative,  but  perhaps  the  stronger  and  more  per- 
manent for  this.  Such,  too,  was  Nesbitt :  the  older  members  of  the 


482  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

profession  loved  him,  and  those  of  his  own  age  were  unenvious  and 
esteemed  him. 

Our  circuit  consisted  of  seven  counties,  and  the  ridings  were  spring 
and  fall,  occupying  about  two  months  each  term.  In  each  court- 
house town  was  a  tavern  or  two.  These  houses  of  entertainment 
were  not  then  dignified  with  the  sonorous  title  of  hotel.  The  pro- 
prietors were  usually  jolly  good  fellows,  or  some  staid  matronly  lady, 
in  black  gown  and  blue  cap,  and  they  all  looked  forward  with  anx- 
ious delight  to  the  coming  of  court  week.  Every  preparation  was 
made  for  the  judge  and  lawyers.  Beds  were  aired  and  the  bugs 
hunted  out.  Saturday  previous  to  the  coming  Monday  was  a  busy 
day  in  setting  all  things  to  rights,  and  the  scrubbing-broom  was  heard 
in  consonance  with  calls  to  the  servants  to  be  busy  and  careful,  as 
Sally  and  Nancy  sprang  to  their  work  with  a  will.  With  garments 
tucked  up  to  their  knees,  they  splashed  the  water  and  suds  over  the 
floors,  strangers  to  the  cleansing  element  until  then  for  months  ago. 
A  new  supply  of  corn  and  fodder  was  arriving  from  the  country ; 
stables  and  stable  lots  were  undergoing  a  scraping  eminently  required 
for  the  comfort  of  decent  beasts,  who  gave  their  lives  in  labor  to 
exacting  man.  The  room  usually  appropriated  to  the  Bench  and 
Bar  was  a  great  vagabond -hall,  denominated  the  ball-room,  and  for 
this  purpose  appropriated  once  or  twice  a  year.  Along  the  bare  walls 
of  this  mighty  dormitory  were  arranged  beds,  each  usually  occupied 
by  a  couple  of  the  limbs  of  the  law,  and  sometimes  appropriated  to 
three.  If  there  was  not  a  spare  apartment,  a  bed  was  provided  here 
for  the  judge.  And  if  there  were  no  lawyers  from  Augusta,  this  one 
was  distinguished  by  the  greatest  mountain  of  feathers  in  the  house. 
Here  assembled  at  night  the  rollicking  boys  of  the  Georgia  Bar,  who 
here  indulged,  without  restraint,  the  convivialities  for  which  they 
were  so  celebrated.  Humor  and  wit,  in  anecdotes  and  repartee, 
beguiled  the  hours ;  and  the  few  old  taverns  time  has  spared,  could 
they  speak,  might  narrate  more  good  things  their  walls  have  heard, 
than  have  ever  found  record  in  the  Noctes  Ambrosiance  of  the  wits  of 
Scrogie. 

There  are  but  few  now  left  who  have  enjoyed  a  night  in  one  of 
these  old  tumble-down  rooms,  with  A.  S.  Clayton,  O.  H.  Prince, 
A.  B.  Longstreet,  and  John  M.  Dooly.  Here  and  there  one,  old, 
tottering,  and  gray,  lives  to  laugh  at  his  memories  of  those  chosen 
spirits  of  fun.  Yes,  that  is  the  word  —  fun  —  for  these  ancients  pos- 


FIFTY     YEARS.  483 

sessed  a  fund  of  mirth-exciting  humor,  combined  with  a  biting  wit, 
which,  in  the  peregrinations  of  a  long  life,  I  have  met  nowhere  else. 
VVere  I  to  select  one  of  these  inns,  it  would  be  the  old  Walton 
Tavern,  in  the  mean  little  hamlet  of  Livingston  in  Oglethorpe 
County,  or  the  old  house,  kept  long  and  indifferently,  by  that  moun- 
tain of  mortal  obesity,  Billy  Springer,  in  Sparta,  Hancock  County. 
It  was  here,  and  when  Springer  presided  over  the  fried  meat  and 
eggs  of  this  venerable  home  for  the  weary  and  hungry,  after  a  night 
of  it,  that  all  were  huddled  to  bed  like  pigs  in  a  sty. 

This  bulky  Boniface  was  polite  to  all,  but  especially  to  an  Augusta 
lawyer.  Freeman  Walker,  of  that  ilk,  usually  attended  this  court, 
and  was  the  great  man  of  the  week.  A  man  of  splendid  abilities  and 
polished  manners,  dressed  and  deporting  himself  like  a  gentleman, 
as  he  was,  he  shone  among  the  lesser  lights  which  orbed  about  him, 
a  star  of  the  first  magnitude.  The  choice  seat,  the  choice  bed,  and 
choice  bits  at  the  table,  were  ever  for  Major  Walker.  Big  Billy, 
with  his  four  hundred  and  ten  pounds  of  adipose  flesh,  was  always 
behind  Major  Walker's  chair.  He  was  first  served  ;  the  choicest 
pieces  of  the  pig  were  pointed  out,  cuts  from  the  back  and  side 
bones  and  breast  were  hunted  from  the  dish  of  fried  chicken,  a 
famous  Georgia  dish,  for  Major  Walker.  It  was  a  great  thing  in 
those  days  in  Georgia,  to  live  in  a  little  town  of  three  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  wear  store  clothes.  It  was  this  and  these  which 
made  a  Georgia  major. 

Judge  Dooly,  upon  one  occasion,  when  attempting  to  usurp  the  seat 
of  honor,  was  unceremoniously  informed  by  Big  Billy  that  it  was 
Major  Walker's  seat. 

Custom  since  has  familiarized  the  retention  of  special  seats  for 
special  persons,  and  now  such  a  remark  from  a  host  astonishes  no 
one.  But  in  those  days  of  unadulterated  democracy,  to  assume  a 
right  to  an  unoccupied  seat,  startled  every  one.  Dooly,  amid  the 
astonished  gaze  of  the  assembled  guests,  unmurmuringly  retired  to  an 
unoccupied  seat  of  more  humble  pretensions  near  the  foot  of  the 
extended  table.  The  occurrence  was  canvassed  at  night  with  full 
house  in  the  democratic  dormitory.  When  the  jests  incidental  were 
hushed,  and  one  after  another  had  retired  to  bed,  Judge  Dooly, 
then  on  the  Bench,  went  slowly  to  the  only  unappropriated  bed,  and 
undressing,  folded  down  the  bed-clothes.  Suddenly,  as  if  he  had 
forgotten  something,  he  slipped  to  the  landing  of  the  stairway  and 


484  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

called  anxiously  for  the  landlord.  "  Come  up,  if  you  please."  he  said 
to  the  answering  host.  Springer  commenced  the  ascent  with  slow 
and  heavy  tread  ;  at  length,  after  a  most  exhausting  effort,  and 
breathing  like  a  wounded  bellows,  he  lifted  his  mighty  burden  of 
flesh  into  the  room. 

"  What  is  your  will,  Judge  Dooly?  "  he  asked,  with  a  painful  effort 
at  speech. 

Dooly,  standing  in  his  shirt  by  the  bedside  and  pointing  to  it,  asked, 
with  much  apparent  solicitude,  if  that  "  was  Major  Walker's  bed." 

Springer  felt  the  sarcasm  keenly,  and,  amid  the  boisterous  out- 
burst of  laughter  from  every  bed,  turned  and  went  down. 

A  thousand  anecdotes  might  be  related  of  the  peculiar  wit,  sarcasm, 
and  drollery  of  this  remarkable  man.  One  more  must  suffice.  When 
Newton  County  was  first  organized,  it  was  made  the  duty  of  Dooly 
to  hold  the  first  court.  There  then  lived  and  kept  the  only  tavern  in 
the  new  town  of  Covington,  a  man  of  huge  proportions,  named  Ned 
Williams,  usually  called  Uncle  Ned  —  he,  as  well  as  Dooly,  have  long 
slept  with  their  fathers.  The  location  of  the  village  and  court-house 
had  been  of  recent  selection,  and  Uncle  Ned's  tavern  was  one  of 
those  peculiar  buildings  improvised  for  temporary  purposes  —  a  log 
cabin,  designated,  in  some  parts  of  Georgia  at  that  time,  as  a  two- 
storied  house,  with  both  stories  on  the  ground  ;  in  other  words,  a 
double-penned  cabin  with  passage  between.  Uncle  Ned  had  made 
ample  provision  for  the  Bench  and  Bar.  One  pen  of  his  house  was 
appropriated  to  their  use.  There  was  a  bed  in  each  corner,  and  there 
were  nine  lawyers,  including  the  judge.  The  interstices  between 
the  cabin  poles  were  open,  but  there  was  no  window,  and  but  one 
door,  which  had  to  be  closed  to  avoid  too  close  companionship 
with  the  dogs  of  the  household.  It  was  June,  and  Georgia  June 
weather,  sultry,  warm,  and  still,  especially  at  night.  In  the  centre 
there  stood  a  deal  table  of  respectable  dimensions,  and  this  served  the 
double  purpose  of  dining-table  and  bed-place  for  one.  Uncle  Ned 
was  polite  and  exceedingly  solicitous  to  please.  He  had  scoured  the 
county  for  supplies ;  it  was  too  new  for  poultry  or  eggs,  but  acorns 
abounded,  and  pigs  were  plenty.  They  had  never  experienced  want, 
and  consequently  were  well-grown  and  fat.  Uncle  Ned  had  found 
and  secured  one  which  weighed  some  two  hundred  pounds.  This 
he  divided  into  halves  longitudinally,  and  had  barbecued  the  half  in- 
tended for  the  use  of  the  Bar  and  Bench.  At  dinner,  on  Monday,  it 


FIFTY     YEARS.  485 

was  introduced  upon  a  large  wooden  tray  as  the  centre  substantial 
dish  for  the  dinner  of  the  day.  It  was  swimming  in  lard.  There 
were  side-dishes  of  potatoes  and  cold  meats,  appellated  in  Georgia 
collards,  with  quantities  of  corn-bread,  with  two  bowls  of  hash  from 
the  lungs  and  liver  of  the  pig,  all  reeking  with  the  fire  and  summer 
heat.  A  scanty  meal  was  soon  made,  but  the  tray  and  contents 
remained  untouched. 

The  court  continued  three  days,  and  was  adjourned  at  noon  of  the 
fourth  day,  until  the  next  term.  Each  day  the  tray  and  contents  were 
punctual  in  their  attendance.  The  depressed  centre  of  the  tray  was 
a  lake  of  molten  lard,  beneath  which  hid  a  majority  of  the  pig. 
After  dinner  of  the  last  day,  all  were  ready  to  leave.  When  the 
meal  was  concluded,  Dooly  asked  if  all  were  done.  "Landlord," 
said  the  Judge,  "will  you  give  us  your  attention?"  Uncle  Ned 
entered.  "Your  will,  Judge,"  he  asked.  "I  wish  you,  sir,  to  dis- 
charge this  hog  on  his  own  recognizance.  We  do  not  want  any 
bail  for  his  appearance  at  the  next  term."  The  dinner  concluded 
in  a  roar  of  laughter,  in  which  Uncle  Ned  heartily  joined. 

Only  one  of  the  nine  who  assisted  to  organize  that  county,  now 
remains  in  life.  There  were  four  men  there  whose  names  are  inscribed 
on  the  scroll  of  fame  —  whose  names  their  fellow-citizens  have  hon- 
ored and  perpetuated  by  giving  them  to  counties :  Cobb,  Dawson, 
Colquitt,  and  Dougherty.  Warner  and  Pierman  died  young.  I  alone 
remain.  The  children  of  most  of  them  are  now  gray  with  years,  and 
have  seen  their  grandchildren.  The  name  of  Dooly  remains  only 
a  memory. 

The  affections  arising  from  youthful  associations  are  more  enduring 
than  those  which  come  of  the  same  cause  in  riper  years.  They  are  more 
disinterested  and  sincere.  They  come  with  the  spring  of  life,  root 
deep  into  the  heart,  and  cling  with  irradicable  tenacity  through  life. 
We  find  in  mature  life  dear  friends,  friends  who  will  share  the  all 
they  have  with  you,  who  will  for  you  hazard  even  life,  and  you  love 
them — but  not  as  you  love  the  boys  who  were  at  school  with  you, 
who  ran  with  you  wild  through  the  woods,  when  you  hunted  the 
squirrel  and  trapped  the  quail.  When  fortuitous  time  forces  your 
separation,  and  long  intervening  years  blot  the  features,  in  their 
change,  from  your  recognition,  and  chance  throws  you  again  with  a 
loved  companion  of  life's  young  morn  —  the  thrill  which  stirs  the 
41* 


486  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

heart,  when  his  name  is  announced,  comes  not  for  the  friend  found 
only  when  time  has  grown  gray. 

Go  and  stand  by  the  grave  of  one  loved  when  a  boy,  the  little  laugh- 
ing girl  you  played  with  at  hide-and-seek,  through  the  garden  shrubbery 
and  the  intricacies  of  the  house  and  yard,  one  who' was  always  gentle 
and  kind,  she  for  whom  you  carried  the  satchel  and  books  when 
going  to  school,  who  came  at  noon  and  divided  her  blackberry-pie 
with  you,  and  always  gave  you  the  best  piece — and  see  how  all  these 
memories  will  come  back  ;  and  if  the  green  grass  upon  the  roof-top  of 
her  home  for  eternity  does  not  bear,  when  you  have  gone  away,  a 
tear-drop  to  sparkle  and  exhale,  a  tribute  to  endearing  memory, 
your  heart  is  not  worth  the  name.  It  is  not  given  to  us  to  love  all 
with  whom  we  may  be  familiar  in  early  life.  But  every  one  will 
sincerely  love  some  few  of  the  companions  of  his  school-days  and 
early  manhood.  This  is  really  the  sugar  of  life,  and  the  garrulity  of 
age  loves  to  recount  these,  for  in  his  narrative  he  lives  over  and 
revives  the  attachments  of  boyhood.  Woman  may  confess  only 
to  her  own  heart  these  memories  —  she  must  love  only  in  secret. 
When  the  heart  is  fresh  and  brimming  with  affection,  she  may  love 
with  all  the  devotion  of  woman's  heart ;  but  if  her  love  meets  no  return 
its  birthplace  must  be  its  grave.  She  may  only  tell,  when  she  is  old, 
of  her  successful  and  more  fortunate  love.  Ah !  how  many  recount 
to  their  grandchildren  their  love,  in  budding  youth,  for  their  grand- 
father, who  hide  in  the  secret  alcoves  of  the  heart  a  more  sacred 
memory  of  one  who  found  his  way  there  before  dear  old  grand- 
father came.  What  sorrows  these  memories  have  sown  along  the  way 
of  life  !  but  they  have  winced  not  when  the  thorn  has  pricked ;  and 
how  she  has  folded  to  her  bosom  dear  John,  while  imagination  made 
him  the  more  dear  Willie,  her  first  and  foremost  love!  These 
endure  in  secret,  and  are  the  more  sacred  for  this;  they  die  only  with 
the  dead  heart.  Oh !  the  grave,  the  secrets  of  the  grave,  are  they 
hidden  there  for  ages,  or  shall  they  survive  as  treasures  for  eternity  ? 

I  have  been  wandering  among  the  graves  of  those  loved  best 
when  the  heart  could  love  most,  and  dead  memories  sprouted  anew, 
and  with  them  a  flash  of  the  feelings  which  made  them  treasures  of 
the  heart.  Yonder  is  the  grave  of  Thomas  W.  Cobb ;  near  me  is 
that  of  him  most  loved  —  William  C.  Dawson;  and  here,  in  this 
green  grave,  is  Yelverton  P.  King ;  and  near  him  is  the  last  resting- 
place  of  Adeline  Harrison.  Dear,  sweet  Adeline,  you  went,  in 


FIFTY     YEAR  IS.  487 

truth,  to  heaven,  ere  yet  the  bud  of  life  had  opened  into  flower ! 
This  is  the  county  of  my  birth,  and  all  of  these,  save  Cobb,  were 
natives,  too,  of  the  dear  old  land. 

To  me,  how  near  and  dear  were  these !  Turn  back,  O  Time,  thy 
volume  for  fifty  years,  and  let  me  read  over  anew  the  records  of 
dead  days,  and  make  memories  once  more  realities,  as  they  were 
real  then  —  else  hurry  on  to  the  end,  that  I  may  know  with  these, 
or  with  these  forget  forever!  I  would  not  linger  in  the  twilight  of 
life,  with  all  of  time  dimming  out,  and  nothing  of  eternity  dawning 
upon  my  vision.  Let  me  sleep  in  the  forgetfulness  of  the  one,  to 
awake  to  the  fruition  of  the  other  1 

I  have  been  to  the  graves  of  my  father  and  my  mother.  For  more 
than  a  third  of  a  century  they  have  been  sleeping  here.  I  sat  down 
in  the  moonlight,  and  placed  my  hand  upon  the  cold,  heavy  stone 
which  rests  above  them :  they  do  not  feel  its  pressure,  but  sleep  well. 
They  are  but  earth  now — and  why  am  I  here?  The  moon  and  the 
stars  are  the  same,  and  as  sweetly  bright,  looking  down  upon  this 
sacred  spot,  as  they  were  when,  a  little  child,  I  sat  upon  the  knee  of 
her  who  is  nothing  here,  and  listened  to  her  telling  me  the  names  of 
these,  as  she  would  point  to  them,  and  ask  me  if  I  did  not  see  them 
winking  at  me.  Yet  they  are  there,  and  the  same  now  as  then.  But 
where  is  that  gentle,  sweet,  affectionate  mother  ?  Is  she  up  among 
these  gems  of  heaven?  Is  she  yonder  in  the  mighty  Jupiter,  looking 
down,  and  smiling  at  me  ?  Is  she  permitted,  in  her  new  being,  to 
come  at  will,  and  breathe  to  my  mind  holy  thoughts  and  holy  feel- 
ings ?  Disembodied,  is  she,  as  God,  pervading  all,  and  knowing  all  ? 
Does  she,  with  that  devotion  of  heart  which  was  so  much  hers  in 
time,  still  love  and  protect  me?  Shall  I,  when  purified  by  death,  go 
to  her  ?  and  shall  this  hope  become  a  reality,  and  endure  forever  ? 
Surely,  this  must  be  true ;  or,  why  are  these  thoughts  and  hopes  in 
the  mind  — why  this  affection  sublimated  still  in  the  heart — why  this 
link  between  the  living,  and  the  dead,  if  its  fruition  shall  be  denied 
in  eternity  ?  Why  this  question,  which  implies  a  doubt  of  the  good- 
ness of  God  ?  Sweet  is  the  belief,  sweeter  the  hope,  that  I  shall  see 
that  smile  of  benignity,  feel  that  gentle,  loving  caress,  and  forever, 
in  unalloyed  bliss,  participate  heaven  with  her.  My  mother  —  my 
mother !  see  you  into  my  heart,  here  by  your  gravestone,  to-night  ? 
Hast  thou  gone  with  me  through  my  long  pilgrimage  of  time?  If 
I  have  kept  thy  counsels,  and  walked  by  their  wisdom,  hast  thou  ap- 


488  THE     MEMORIES     OF 

proved,  my  mother?  My  mother,  all  that  is  good  and  pure  in  me 
has  come  of  thee !  If  the  allurements  of  vice  have  tempted,  and 
frail  nature  has  threatened  to  yield,  the  morning's  admonition,  the 
evening's  counsel  in  our  long  walks,  would  strengthen  me  to  for- 
bearance. These  bright  memories  have  lived  and  remained  with 
me  a  guide  and  salvation ;  and  now  they  are  the  morning's  memory, 
the  evening's  thought.  As  I  have  remembered  and  loved  thee,  I 
have  been  guided  and  governed  by  these.  Surely  there  can  be  no 
loss  to  the  child  like  the  loss  of  the  mother  !  How  those  are  to  be 
pitied  !  They  go  through  life  without  the  holy  influences  for  good 
coming  from  a  mother ;  they  stumble  on,  and  learn  here  and  there, 
as  time  progresses,  the  moral  lessons  only  taught  to  childhood  from 
a  mother's  lips:  they  stumble  and  fall  for  the  want  of  these;  and, 
by  experience,  too  often  bitter  experience,  learn  in  youth  what  in 
childhood  should  be  taught,  which  should  grow  up  with  them  as  a 
part  of  their  being,  to  be  the  guides  and  comforts  of  life.  And  oh, 
how  many  never  learn  this  ! 

Go,  and  converse  with  the  wise  and  good,  and  they  will  tell  you 
of  their  mothers'  teachings ;  go  to  the  condemned  criminal,  whose 
crimes  have  cast  him  from  society,  and  ask  him  why  he  is  thus  —  and 
he  will  tell  you  he  disregarded  the  teachings  of  his  mother ;  or,  '  I 
had  a  wicked  and  vicious  mother,  who  taught  me  evil  instead  of 
good  ; '  or,  '  I  had  no  mother,  to  plant  in  my  childhood's  heart  the 
fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  virtue.' 

Here,  to  me,  to-night,  in  grateful  memory,  comes  the  Sabbath 
morning  in  the  garden  at  the  home  of  my  childhood,  more  than 
sixty  years  ago,  when  this  dead  mother  here  sleeping  pointed  to  the 
drunken  man  passing  on  the  highway,  and,  kindly  looking  up  into 
my  face,  asked  me  to  look  at  him,  and,  when  he  had  passed  out  of 
sight,  said:  "My  child,  will  you  here,  this  beautiful  morning  of 
God's  day,  promise  your  mother  that  you  will  not  drink  one  drop 
of  ardent  spirits  until  you  are  twenty-one  years  of  age  ?  You  are  so 
full  of  animal  spirits,  I  fear,  should  you  touch  it  at  all,  that  you  will 
come  to  drink  to  excess,  and  fill  a  drunkard's  grave  before  you  shall 
have  passed  half  the  days  allotted  to  man's  life."  I  see  that  plead- 
ing face,  those  soft  brown  eyes  to-night,  as  they  looked  from  where 
she  was  seated  into  my  face ;  I  see  the  soft  smile  of  satisfaction,  as 
it  came  up  from  her  heart  and  illumined  her  features,  when  I  lifted 
up  my  hand  and  made  the  promise  !  And,  oh,  shall  I  ever  forget 


.FIFTY     YEARS.  489 

the  thrill  which  gladdened  my  heart  when  she  rose  up  and  kissed 
me,  and  murmured  so  gently,  so  tenderly,  so  full  of  hope  and  con- 
fidence: "  I  know  you  will  keep  it,  my  child."  That  promise  is  a 
holy  memory  !  It  was  kept  with  sacred  fidelity. 

Angel  of  love  and  light — my  mother  —  look  down  upon  thy 
child  here  to-night,  and  for  the  last  time  by  thy  grave,  with  whitened 
head  and  tottering  step,  and  see  if  I  have-  ever  departed  £<**  the 
way  you  taught  me  to  go  !  Soon  I  shall  be  with  you. 

MY   WORK   IS   OVER,    MY   TASK  IS   DONE! 


\\4f> 


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